Curling

Canadian Olympic champion Russ Howard and his Moncton, NB rink were defeated in the final of the Bern Open tournament in Switzerland, Sunday.

Howard and his team of Peter Case, Jason Vaughan and James Grattan had a perfect 6-0 record going into Sunday's final, but came out on the losing end of a close 7-6 match against Norway's Thomas Ulsrud to take second place. 

It was sweet redemption for Ulsrud, whose gold was a first for him at the Bern. In 2007, Ulsrud's rink met Howard for the first time, but it was the Canadian rink that who came out on top. Howard went on to win the tournament.

They had not met on the ice, since.

Reigning world champion David Murdoch, of Scotland, was knocked out in the quarter finals of this year's tournament.

At the Grasshopper Women's Masters, Sunday, Germany's Andrea Schopp defeated Debbie McCormick of the United States with a score of 7-6.

The German rink of Schopp, Stella Heiss, Melanie Robillard and Monika Wagner went 7-1 to take home Schopp's second straight Grasshopper trophy.

Austria's Karina Toth finished third.