PEICurling.com

CAMROSE, Alberta, December 21 (CCA)…. Team World evened the score with North America, at three wins apiece, by taking the sixth Continental Cup, presented by Monsanto, 208-192.

The end came early in the 55-point men’s Skins game between Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud and Canada’s Kevin Martin, the acknowledged master of Skins Games and reigning world champion.

Team World entered the final game needing only eight points to claim the Cup, leading North America, 193-152, after Sweden’s Anette Norberg had defeated Canada’s Jennifer Jones, 41-14 in the morning’s 55-point women’s Skins game. So Martin’s unenviable task was to either take skins or force carryovers.

After the teams traded four-point skins in the first two ends, it meant that Martin had to sweep the rest of the game. After a third-end carryover, when Martin couldn’t count a deuce on a hit, it was left to Ulsrud for the fourth-end heroics.

With hammer, he made an incredible triple-raise takeout with his last stone, removing a Martin rock biting the button, and sticking around for a deuce and the 11-point skin. That elevated the World total to 208, seven more than necessary to claim the Cup.

“We got that early skin, so I told the guys, if we get one, we’re going to win the Cup,” commented Ulsrud, a two-time world bronze medallist. “So we then thought there would be pressure on him (Martin). We had a big head start going into it (final game).

On his clinching shot, Ulsrud said, “That was a nice way to win it. That was probably a tough shot. I’m guessing maybe one out of five I make in practice…maybe not even that. That was just a beautiful feeling. I told the guys we’re going to get some chances, but not many against Kevin, so we’ll take the first one.

“After that, it was tough to stay focused. I didn’t think we were going to play through (the full eight ends), so I guess my mind was somewhere else. This is beautiful. I just hope it (the Cup) comes back. This is the best experience I’ve had in my curling career.”

While the teams continued to finish out the game over the remaining four ends, it was simply a formality, as Martin eventually won 40-15.

Among the World roster, it was the third Cup win for Sweden’s Anette Norberg, Cathrine Lindahl and Anna Svärd. Dual Cup winners are Scotland’s David Murdoch, Ewan MacDonald and Euan Byers and Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, Valeria Spälty and Janine Greiner.

World captain Pål Trulsen is also a previous two-time winner of the Continental Cup as a player, while world coach Peja Lindholm was a member of winning Team Europe in 2003.

“There’s a couple of ways to look at it,” said Martin, who was also a member of the winning North America side at the inaugural Cup, when the men’s Skins game went down to last rock between him and Sweden’s Peja Lindholm.

“The biggest thing is we couldn’t play our normal Skins game, but we were in a situation where we couldn’t miss many. We kind of had to play real defensive and go as long as we could and try to survive. But (after Ulsrud clinched it) we played like a normal Skins game. The carryover was expensive, too, but he made a great shot to take it.”

The Continental Cup, the first event in curling’s Season of Champions, involves Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points). The first side to score 201 points is the winner. Each member of the winning team received $2,000 while each losing team member got $1,400.

North America held a 3-2 edge in Cup victories entering the 2008 edition, winning the inaugural Cup in 2002 in Regina, then renewals in Medicine Hat in 2004 and 2007. The World (formerly Team Europe) won in 2003 in Thunder Bay and 2006 in Chilliwack.

The Continental Cup is a joint venture of the Canadian Curling Association, the United States Curling Association and the World Curling Federation.

While there will definitely not be a Continental Cup in 2009 (the space on the Canadian curling calendar will be taken by the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, December 6-13 in Edmonton) no decision has been made yet whether to continue the unique international Ryder Cup-like competition, possibly in 2010.

CAMROSE, December 20 (CCA)…In a night filled with controversy, North America stormed back into contention at the Continental Cup, presented by Monsanto, closing a 38-point gap to just 14, heading into Sunday’s two final Skins games.

The score now reads World 152, North America 138, and sets up Sunday’s two 55-point Skins games at the Edgeworth Centre for all the marbles, featuring reigning world champion Jennifer Jones against 2006 Olympic and two-time world champion Anette Norberg of Sweden at 8:30 am MT, followed by the men’s game at 2:00 pm, pitting reigning world champion Kevin Martin against two-time worlds bronze medallist Thomas Ulsrud of Norway.

TSN2 will show the women’s Skins live, while TSN will carry the men’s Skins live.

Saturday evening, in the men’s 30-point Skins game, North America emerged with a lopsided win, 28-2, as Kevin Koe’s Edmonton rink demolished Scotland’s David Murdoch. One of the keys to the win was fourth rock thrower Blake MacDonald’s blast in the seventh end, which removed a Murdoch counter, and gave a 10-point skin from a carryover to Koe.

In the Stefanie Lawton-Mirjam Ott 30-point women’s match, Lawton make a key double takeout in the seventh end, earning a skin worth 16 points after three carryovers, to open a 19-2 lead, before Ott took a nine-point Skin in the eighth end to make the final score, 19-11.

The marquee Mixed Skins game featured a lineup for Team World that listed four skips, headed by Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, against a North America squad which had the reigning world champions Kevin Martin, as skip, and Jennifer Jones, as third. The final score turned out to be 16-14 for World.

However, controversy emerged prior to the start of tonight’s draw, when it was brought to the attention of the officials that Team North America had named ineligible line-ups for not only tonight’s game, but also for Saturday morning’s 20-point Mixed Skins Game, which was won by North America, 15-5.

It was therefore decided by all parties (officials and team captains/coaches) that the points for each of the two Mixed Skins games would be split, regardless of the outcome. The net result was that World and North America each received 25 points for the two Mixed Skins games.

The rules state that the Mixed Skins line-ups must be comprised of two players who are named in the 20-point Skins, two players named in the 30-point Skins and four players in the 55-point Skin games.

North America used a lineup Saturday morning which included three players who had been named to compete in the 30-point Skins, along with one player named for the 55-point Skins game. Tonight’s line-up listed four players named for the 55-point Skins game, meaning five players in 55-point Skins games, instead of four, were used, while no players from the 20-point Skins game were used.

The Continental Cup, the first event in curling’s Season of Champions, involves Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points). The first side to score 201 points is declared the winner. Each member of the winning team will receive $2,000 while each losing team member gets $1,400.

North America holds a 3-2 edge in Cup wins, since the unique four-day competition began in 2002 in Regina. North America won the inaugural Cup, then took renewals in Medicine Hat in 2004 and 2007. The World (formerly Team Europe) won in 2003 in Thunder Bay and 2006 in Chilliwack.