Harnden suffers loss to the Territories

NEWS RELEASES

CANADIAN CURLING ASSOCIATION

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Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba on an early roll Kevin Martin and his Alberta champions from Edmonton are on cruise control at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

The two-time Brier champ, who's backed up by third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert, racked up two more wins on Sunday to stay in a three-way tie with Ontario's Glenn Howard and Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk for first place at 3-0.

Alberta capped its perfect weekend with an 8-7 win over James Grattan of New Brunswick. Alberta scored three in the second, added a deuce in the fourth and put the win away with three in the eighth end. New Brunswick dropped to 0-2 after the loss.

"That was a tight game, but we were in control. That was good," said Martin. " We've played really well the first five ends, we haven't got ourselves in trouble, and then we've been kind of riding it home. So far so good."

In other Draw 4 play, both Ontario and Manitoba needed extra ends to keep pace with Alberta.

Ontario jumped out to an early lead with a steal of three in the second, but gave three back to Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard before finally pulling out an 8-7 win in 11 ends. The loss left Quebec with an 0-2 record.

Manitoba, meanwhile, had to work hard to get past Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse by the same 8-7 count in 11 ends. Nova Scotia's record evened out at 1-1 with the loss.

In the other afternoon tilt, Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories stole one in the seventh end and two more in the eighth in an 8-6 triumph over Eric Harnden of Northern Ontario. Both teams are at 1-1.

Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (2-0), B.C.'s Bob Ursel (0-2), Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue (0-2) and Prince Edward Island's Peter Gallant (0-3) all had byes in Draw 4.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Sunday with the 8 p.m. (all times Eastern) draw, which will be shown by TSN.

On Monday, draws are scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. TSN will show the last two draws, while the morning draw will be available at curltv.com ***************************

Saskatchewan in the hunt early After three years of frustration, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons is off to a hot start at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

The chiropractor from Moose Jaw and his team from the Davidson Curling Club — third Jeff Sharp, second Gerry Adam and lead Steve Laycock — moved into a four-way tie for first place at 2-0 by beating Peter Gallant of Prince Edward Island 8-5 in Sunday morning action.

Simmons had never won his opening game in three previous trips to the Brier; he joins a leading pack at 2-0 that includes Alberta's Kevin Martin, Ontario's Glenn Howard and Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk.

"There are some small things to keep improving on, but these are games we're winning that another year we may not have, and that's a good sign," said Simmons. "And it's also a good sign that we know we can play a whole lot better."

P.E.I. completed its opening weekend with an 0-3 record.

While Ontario and Manitoba were idle on Sunday morning, Alberta rolled to an 8-4 win over B.C.'s Bob Ursel. Martin opened the game with three in the first end and never looked back. B.C. dropped to 0-2 with the loss.

Also enjoying byes Sunday morning were Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden (1-0), Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse (1-0), New Brunswick's James Grattan (0-1), Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard (0-1), Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories (0-1) and Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue (0-2).

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