– Coldwater, ON’s Team Howard goes undefeated to claim first event of season, takes home $26,000 of $100,000 purse –
– Ottawa’s Team Homan takes second Grand Slam title of career, wins $23,000 –
– Second event of the 2013-14 Grand Slam of Curling season, Canadian Open, takes place November 13-17 in Medicine Hat, AB –
ABBOTSFORD, BC (November 3, 2013) Ontario comes out on top. Coldwater, ON’s Team Howard and Ottawa’s Team Homan have captured the title at the first event of the 2013-14 Grand Slam of Curling season – the Masters on Sportsnet. Team Howard went undefeated in the tourney, taking home $26,000, while Team Homan won her last five matches to win $23,000.
A combined purse of $200,000 was awarded to the 30 men’s and women’s teams competing in the six day tournament, which was held at Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre in Abbotsford, BC.
A now six-time Masters champion, skip Glenn Howard scored four in the fifth end on his way to a 7-5 win over Edmonton’s Team Martin in today’s final. As winners of the Masters, Howard now sits atop the leader board for overall Grand Slam points on the season. He will look to make it two in a row as the men now head to the Canadian Open in Medicine Hat, AB, November 13-17.
“We’re off to a great start, and to win a Grand Slam is the pinnacle,” said skip Howard. “You have the best of the best. All the best teams are here and to win that, you have to be doing something special.”
On the women’s side, skip Rachel Homan of Ottawa earned her second straight Masters title, narrowly defeating Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 7-5 in today’s final. With the victory, Homan now has an opportunity to take home the Grand Slam bonus prize of $100,000 if she can capture the title at the Players’ Championship in Summerside, PEI next April.p
“We had a couple of losses early, but we were learning the ice and learning from our mistakes,” said skip Homan. “We just kept building, got a couple of breaks and took it one game at a time.”
For detailed scoring and information, please visit http://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/
Images from the Masters are available for download at http://bit.ly/16PwhjY
Owned and operated by Sportsnet since 2012, the Grand Slam of Curling is an elite series of men’s and women’s curling events which are part of the World Curling Tour and feature the best teams from across Canada and around the world. In addition to the Masters, the 2013-14 series also includes the Canadian Open (Medicine Hat, AB, November 13-17), the National (Fort McMurray, AB, March 12-16, 2014) and the Players’ Championship (Summerside, PEI, April 15-20, 2014).
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