(by Jonathan Brazeau)
It was another close battle between legendary skips Kevin Martin and Glenn Howard when they faced off at the Players’ Championship in Summerside, P.E.I.
Martin, from Edmonton, led by one with the hammer coming home and settled for a single to defeat Howard 6-4 in Draw 3 action on Wednesday.
Both teams will undergo roster changes in the off-season, making this quite possibly the final matchup between these lineups. Team Martin’s Ben Hebert and Marc Kennedy will join Team Howard’s Brent Laing in the fall on a new squad skipped by Kevin Koe. Howard, from Penetanguishene, Ont., announced his new rink Sunday adding Richard Hart and Jon Mead with Craig Savill returning at lead.
Elsewhere, all three men’s medal winners from the Sochi Olympics — Brad Jacobs (gold), David Murdoch (silver) and Niklas Edin (bronze) — hit the ice for their first games of the Grand Slam of Curling event.
Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., edged Switzerland’s Sven Michel with a deuce in the final end to win 6-4. Michel trailed 4-2 but tied it with single steals in the sixth and seventh ends.
Meanwhile, Murdoch fell 7-2 in seven ends against Brad Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L. Gushue opened the game with a deuce in the first and stole one in the second to lead 3-0. Murdoch, from Scotland, responded with a single in the third but slipped further behind when Gushue grabbed another double in the sixth.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen earned an 8-3 victory over Edin’s team from Sweden. The two rinks shook hands after McEwen scored a triple in the seventh.
Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton outlasted Toronto’s John Epping to win 4-3. The teams exchanged singles through the first six ends and were tied 3-3 but Stoughton blanked the seventh to hold the hammer in the deciding end.