le 21 décembre 2007 ~ Source: Association canadienne de curling

KAMLOOPS, December 21, 2007…Twenty of the finest men’s and women’s curling teams in the country have qualified for the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup, which will be contested February 27-March 2 at the Interior Savings Centre.

The final spots in the field of 10 men’s and 10 women’s teams were confirmed this past weekend at Canada Cup Qualifier events.

The men’s qualifiers for the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup are Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ontario, Edmonton’s Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey and Kevin Koe, Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton, Kerry Burtnyk and Mike McEwen, Russ Howard of Moncton, Brad Gushue of St. John’s and Pat Simmons of Moose Jaw.

Martin, a two-time Cup winner, qualified by winning last season’s Players’ Championship, while currently-injured Ferbey, a three-time Cup winner, is the defending champion. Glenn Howard qualified by winning the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier (and subsequently the Ford Worlds) while Stoughton, Simmons and Gushue qualified from their placing on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) from September 1-December 17, 2007.

Koe, McEwen, Russ Howard and Burtnyk qualified as semi-finalists at the Canada Cup Qualifier in Ottawa last weekend, where Koe defeated McEwen, 5-3 in Sunday’s final. Howard and Burtnyk lost to McEwen and Koe, respectively, in the semi-finals.

On the women’s side, Kelowna’s Kelly Scott, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones and Janet Harvey, Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink and Cheryl Bernard, Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ontario, Cathy King of Edmonton, Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon, Sherry Anderson of Delisle and Michelle Englot of Regina have qualified.

Jones, the defending Strauss Canada Cup champion, also won last season’s Players’ Championship, while Scott earned her berth by winning the 2007 Scotties Tournament of Hearts (and subsequently the world women’s).

Kleibrink, Anderson, King and Englot qualified via the CTRS while Bernard, Middaugh, Lawton and Harvey made it by advancing to the semi-finals of the Canada Cup Qualifier last Sunday in Edmonton. Bernard defeated Middaugh, 5-3 in the final, while Lawton and Harvey lost in the semi-finals to Bernard and Middaugh, respectively.

Middaugh, Kleibrink and King are also previous Strauss Canada Cup winners…Middaugh in 2003, Kleibrink in 2005 and King in 2006.

Although the Strauss Canada Cup, now in its sixth edition, offers a $150,000 total purse for both the men and women (with $25,000 to each winner), more importantly, the winners will also be part of Team North America (vs Team World) at the 2008 Continental Cup in Camrose, Alberta, December 18-21, earn automatic berths into the 2009 Strauss Canada Cup as defending champions and advance to the pool of teams eligible for the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials.

As usual, the Cup teams will be seeded into two five-team groups and play a round robin within the group plus a cross-over game in the other group. The top two in each group then advance to a cross-over Page Playoff system, whereby the group winners meet in one game (winner to final, loser to semi-final), while the group runners-up meet in another (winner to semi-final, loser eliminated).

CBC-TV will televise Page Playoff games on Saturday, March 1, followed by both the women’s and men’s finals on Sunday, March 2.

Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-374-9200 or 1-888-226-2288, online at ticketmaster.ca or at the Interior Savings Centre box office. Full event and mini-packs are available.

The Strauss Canada Cup (http://seasonofchampions.ca/2008canadacup/index.asp) is the fourth event (of six) in the 2007-08 Season of Champions. The recently-concluded Continental Cup in Medicine Hat, Alberta was the first and is followed by the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, February 3-10 in Sault Ste. Marie, Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 16-24 in Regina, Strauss Canada Cup, February 27-March 2 in Kamloops, Tim Hortons Brier, March 8-16 in Winnipeg and the Ford World Women’s, March 22-30 in Vernon, British Columbia.

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Norm Daley
Host Committee President
2008 Strauss Canada Cup
norm@beckerdaley.com
250-374-5577


Danny Lamoureux
Manager of Curling Club Development & Championship Services
Canadian Curling Association
1-800-550-2875 (106)
613-878-3682 (cell)
danny@curling.ca
www.curling.ca or seasonofchampions.ca