Curling

Glenn Howard made a statement that he will be awfully tough to beat at December's Canadian Curling trials by walking through an international field at the Grey Power World Cup of Curling without a loss.

He capped off the perfect week with a win over Kevin Koe in yesterday's final, picking up $24,000 for his efforts. Howard sealed the 6-4 win with a perfect freeze to the button with his first rock in a dramatic eighth end, leaving Koe only a Hail Mary with his last, one that just missed the target.

It's the third consecutive year that Howard, along with teammates Richard Hart, Brent Laing and Craig Savill, have knocked off Koe in the final of the year's first Capital One Grand Slam event and the sixth time that Koe has made it to a Grand Slam final and failed to win.

The victory was the first for Howard this year on the World Curling Tour after winning six in a row to start last season. "We had such a great year last year winning a bunch in a row and we've definitely been gaining moment," the skip said. "I can feel our team getting better and better so it's nice to get a win against all these great teams."

The event brought together the Olympic representatives of nine nations and five top Canadian teams, four of which have already qualified for the Canadian Curling trials, which start Dec. 6 in Edmonton.

Sunday's final was a nail-biter and Howard looked anything but a world-beater early in the contest. Koe jumped out to a fast start against the Ontario opponents, stealing two in the first end when Howard jammed a double-takeout attempt with his first stone and came just heavy on his second, a difficult draw to the corner of the button.

In the second, Koe and his team of Blake MacDonald, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen kept the pressure on forcing Howard to make a delicate draw through a port to the button to score one. "I missed a very makeable shot in the first end and I missed my first in the next one so I kind of put the guys behind the eight-ball," Howard said. "But Richie said, ‘Don't worry skipper, we're never going to give up.'."

Howard tied the contest with two in the fourth and seemed to gain strength in the second half.

After blanking the fifth, Koe seemed to be in trouble in the sixth. The team attempted - and just missed - four consecutive run-back doubles, each time digging themselves a little deeper into a mess. With his last rock, Koe was staring at three Howard counters but he calmly stepped into the hack, threw a molar-rattling heater that removed all three stones and allowed him to score one, taking a 4-3 lead. In the seventh, Koe was again playing catch up after Rycroft chipped out his own rock allowing Howard to sit three.

The Ontario rink eventually scored a deuce and took a one-point lead coming home. Howard elected to play aggressively in that final frame leading to a very crowded house. "I didn't foresee that many rocks in play, but I thought we had to go for the steal," Howard said.