“Edmonton Brier.”
With those two words, Kevin Martin let everyone at the Leduc Recreation Centre know what winning his 12th Alberta men’s curling championship on Sunday meant to him.
“I’ve never had the chance to do one of those,” Martin said, “so it’s going to be a lot of fun. Everybody, I want to see you in Edmonton and cheering loudly.”
The Tim Hortons Brier Canadian championship will be played March 2-10 at Rexall Place.
Martin won a heavyweight battle with Kevin Koe 5-4 in an extra end, with the game decided on the “scorecards,” according to a tweet by the defending champions.
“That was the toughest provincial final I’ve ever played in,” Alberta lead Ben Hebert said afterwards.
He said the game deserved a much higher stature than a provincial final, claiming the Boston Pizza Cup showdown was worthy of a Brier final or Olympic Trials final.
Brier organizers are hoping Martin’s win will translate into a rush on tickets. Just over 150,000 tickets had been sold prior to the start of the game.
Martin and his re-hot Saville Centre rink, which includes third John Morris and Edmonton’s Marc Kennedy at second, is 15-1 since Martin returned in early January from hernia surgery. The rink won the 2009 Olympic Trials at Rexall and later the Olympic gold medal at Vancouver and loved both experiences.
Martin extended the streak of the team winning the A Event final and then completing an undefeated run through the provincial championship to six years. He edged Koe 6-5 in Thursday’s A Event final, and then had a barnburner of a final on Sunday.
Koe was the No. 1 seed in the provincials, and has had his best year ever to this point, leading the Canadian Team Ranking System in points and the World Curling Tour money list.
But he was on the verge of elimination in the triple-knockout competition after being shocked 10-7 by little Aaron Sluchinski of Airdrie in a B Event semifinal on Friday afternoon. He bounced back to win four games in a row to reach the final.
Sunday’s win marked Martin’s third in a row against Koe after losing five straight earlier this season. Martin is now 4-5 against Koe this season.
