Koe to face Bottcher in men’s final; Einarson sets up women’s final with Tirinzoni

SASKATOON — Calgary’s Kevin Koe went right down to the wire to earn a spot in the Humpty’s Champions Cup final.

Koe scored two in the eighth and final end on Saturday to top Sweden’s Niklas Edin 6-5 and advance to the men’s championship draw.

“We’ve had a lot of close games lately, so it’s always nice to get a win especially, when you are playing the tough teams we are at this event,” said Koe. 

It’s been a strong season for Koe. His year includes winning his fourth Brier and making three Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events finals.

“It’s been a great year. It will be tough to duplicate it again down the road,” said Koe. 

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It was one of two draws with heart-stopping final ends.

In the other, Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., scored three in the eighth to beat Team Hasselborg skipped by the Eve Muirhead 5-4 to advance to the women’s final.

In a back-and-forth battle, Koe executed a quiet tapback of an Edin rock in the four-foot for the win. Edin missed a runback by inches on his final rock to leave Koe the shot for the win.

Koe’s team of third BJ Neufeld, second Colton Flasch and lead Ben Hebert will meet Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton in the final.

Bottcher and his crew of third Darren Moulding, second Brad Thiessen and lead Karrick Martin made easy work of Bruce Mouat of Scotland, scoring a 7-2 win in five ends.

Bottcher beat Koe in the Players’ Championship final just two weeks ago for his second Grand Slam victory of the season.

“I hope we play well,” said Koe. “Brendan has been playing well obviously. He got us last time, so hopefully we’ll get him tomorrow.”

Einarson, who is backed by third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur, had a draw to the eight-foot to score her three and eliminate Muirhead. The European team had been in control until the eighth.

Einarson used the same magic in her quarterfinal win earlier in the day, scoring three in the seventh end and stealing two in the eighth to defeat Alina Kovaleva of Russia 8-6.

Einarson will meet Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in the final. Tirinzoni topped Rachel Homan of Ottawa 5-4.

Homan had been rolling through the competition with five straight wins before running into the Swiss juggernaut. Tirinzoni and teammates Alina Paetz, who throws fourth, second Esther Neuenschwander and lead Melanie Barbezat went on the offensive from beginning, and caught Homan on a night when she struggled with draw weight.

Teams eliminated in the women’s quarterfinals were Jennifer Jones, Allison Flaxey — both of Winnipeg — Russia’s Alina Kovaleva and crowd favourite Robyn Silvernagle of North Battleford, Sask.

Gone in the men’s quarterfinals were Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., the John Morris-skipped John Shuster team from Duluth, Minn., Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Toronto’s John Epping.

Jacobs’ loss marked the end of a seven-year run with Ryan Fry at third. Fry will join Epping’s team next season, while Marc Kennedy will end his one-year sabbatical and throw third stones for Jacobs. Craig Savill will not be returning to the Epping team.

The men’s final will be played at noon ET Sunday and the women’s final at 4 p.m.

The winners will take home $40,000 from a total purse of $250,000. Fifteen women’s and 15 men’s teams qualified for the Champions Cup through competitions held throughout the year.

Cam Hutchinson, The Canadian Press