Music: {allcanada} HOWARD ADVANCES TO MEET MCEWEN IN CANADIAN OPEN FINAL

Saturday, January 29, 2011

{allcanada} HOWARD ADVANCES TO MEET MCEWEN IN CANADIAN OPEN FINAL

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OSHAWA, Ont. -- Glenn Howard's rink is on quite a roll.

The squad from Coldwater, Ont., defeated defending world champion Kevin Koe of Edmonton 7-3 on Saturday night to advance to the final of the BDO Canadian Open. Howard's foursome hasn't lost in the event all week at the General Motors Centre.

"Bar none, this has been our best event, collectively, of the curling season," Howard said. "This is, without a doubt, the best we've played, all four of us.

"I think we've given up one deuce all week, and no steals, we're totally controlling every game, and we're making a ton of shots. It couldn't come at a better time. This is a big event for us, and we've got provincials in a couple of weeks. I'm really pleased to peak at this time and hopefully we can keep this up for the rest of the season."

Howard will face Winnipeg's Mike McEwen in the final Sunday. McEwen eliminated Jeff Stoughton, also of Winnipeg, by a 6-4 score in the other semifinal.

Stoughton's rink advanced to the semifinal by downing defending champion Kevin Martin of Edmonton 5-3 in the quarter-finals. It was just Stoughton's second win over the 2010 Olympic champion in four years and his first since 2007.

McEwen beat Dale Matchett of Bradford, Ont., 7-3 in a quarter-final match Saturday while Koe dumped Regina's Pat Simmons 8-1 and Howard got past Rob Fowler of Brandon, Man., 5-2.

Fowler beat Toronto's John Epping 3-1 and Mark Bice of Sarnia, Ont., 5-2 in abbreviated six-end tiebreakers Saturday morning to reach the quarter-finals.

"It was two games, but both games were only six ends long," said Fowler. "To put that into perspective, we play 10-end games at our provincials, so this was like two regular extra-end games.

"It almost felt like the break between the games was like a halftime, and the other team switched their lineup for the second half. So it really wasn't that much extra curling."

Edmonton's Don Walchuk lost his tiebreaker to Bice by a 5-3 score.