Brendan Bottcher (Edmonton, Alberta) wins the Humpty's Champions Cup, defeating Kevin Koe (Calgary, Alberta) 6-5 in an extra end at the Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon, Canada. Bottcher with Darren Moulding at third, Bradley Thiessen and Karrick Martin on the front end take home the $40,000 first prize cheque along with 78.033 world-ranking points while Koe takes home $20,000 and 57.224 world-ranking points for their second place finish. Koe opened the scoring stealing 1 in the first end, with Bottcher responding in the second end scoring 3 for the early lead. After a blank end, Koe scored 2 in the fourth end to tie the game at 3, when Bottcher responded in the fifth end scoring 2 to take back the lead. Koe was forced to a single in the sixth end, but after a blank end, Koe stole the eighth end to send the game to an extra end. In a tight end, Koe's final draw didn't curl enough to make another freeze and Botcher scored a single without throwing their last to win 6-5. In the semifinals, Bottcher defeated Bruce Mouat (Stirling, Scotland) 7-2 and Koe defeated Niklas Edin (Karlstad, Sweden) 6-5. In the quarterfinals, Bottcher defeated Brad Jacobs (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario) 4-1, Koe defeated Brad Gushue (St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador) 6-3, while Mouat defeated Team Shuster (Duluth, USA) 8-4 and Edin defeated John Epping (Toronto, Ontario) 9-7 in an extra end. Bottcher went 4-0 in the 15 team qualifying round. In their opening game, Bottcher defeated Matt Dunstone (Regina, Saskatchewan) 9-8, won against Tyler Tardi (Langley, BC) 6-5, and against Mouat 9-5, before knocking off Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, Manitoba) 7-2 in their final qualifying round match. |