Curling

Team Koe is hoping to get that monkey off its back.

Edmonton's Kevin Koe is heading into his sixth career Grand Slam final on Sunday, after beating reigning Olympic champion Brad Gushue in the semifinal of the World Cup of Curling on Saturday night in Mississauga, Ont.

So far, Team Koe is 0-5 in title games.

"It's our sixth crack at it," Koe said after his 6-4 win over Gushue. "Hopefully tomorrow's the day."

Koe and his team of Carter Rycroft, Blake MacDonald and Nolan Thiessen will have to get by an undefeated Glenn Howard team to earn that first title.

Howard, the 2007 world champion, rolled to his eighth straight win on Saturday at the World Cup, beating No. 3 seed Thomas Ulsrud of Norway 5-4.

"Again, I give credit to my team - we're just so consistent," Howard said. "The guys, we don't get bad games out of anybody, you know, we don't always stand on our head, but we don't play poorly often.

"You do that, if you're consistent throughout, you're going to win a lot of games."

So far in a Grand Slam finals, Koe is 0-2 against Howard, but the Edmonton skip says his team is playing better than they have in previous years, having lost only three games heading into the World Cup bonspeil. 

"I think we've got a good chance," Koe said.  

Howard, who got his team into the final with a clutch shot that scored the winning point with his final rock in the eighth end, is on a roll and looking for his eighth career Grand Slam title.

"Bottom line is to keep playing like we're playing," Howard said. "I'm really pleased with the way the guys are going and we're playing with confidence, which is the key to this game. Just keep making shots, it's as simple as that. 

"We've got a tough contender, Kevin Koe is one of the best on the planet, so we've got our hands full."

Sunday's final is an all-Canadian affair in a tournament that saw two Canadian teams emerge from a field that featured Olympic-bound teams from nine countries, plus five of Canada's best in contention to represent the country at the 2010 Games.

Howard is going for his fourth straight World Cup of Curling win, having won the tournament the last three years.    

"(Koe)'s definitely due to break through, but we're going to hopefully stop them, get three for three off them tomorrow," Howard said.  

Earlier Saturday, Gushue upset No. 1 seed Kevin Martin of Edmonton in the quarter-final with an 8-2 win over six ends.

It was Gushue's third straight win over Martin, the 2008 world champion and 2009 world silver medallist.

Howard, the 2007 world champion, knocked off Germany's Andy Kapp in the quarters with an 8-5 victory, while Koe dominated his quarter-final game with a six end 7-2 win over Niklas Edin of Sweden.

Koe, who got on the board first against Gushue in the semi and never looked back, says there's no winning formula when it comes to beating Howard.

"You play a normal game. They're one of the best teams in the world. You've gotta play good and you've gotta avoid big mistakes," he said. "It's big. These events are the best events out there, and you know, like I said before, five losses in the finals...we'd like to get that monkey off our back." 

On the women's side in the Three Nations Cup, Great Britain's Eve Muirhead will face Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton in Sunday's final.

Both teams, along with the World Championship team of Bingyu Wang from China, finished with 2-1 records in the four-team tournament, but Muirhead and Lawton advanced to the final based on their shootout score, the tiebreaking formula.

Among the notable teams that did not advance to the playoffs of this first Grand Slam event of the season on the men's side were reigning world champion David Murdoch of Scotland (1-5) and Edmonton's Randy Ferbey (2-4).

Howard, Martin, Ferbey and Koe are the four men's teams already qualified for the Olympic qualifier set for December.

Team Gushue will be among eight teams who will play in the pre-trials qualifier next month in Prince George, B.C., where the last four berths for Olympic trials will be determined.