Howard, Corner remain undefeated

THE CANADIAN PRESS

STRATFORD, Ont. -- Glenn Howard moved closer to a seventh straight Dominion Tankard Ontario men's curling championship title with a pair of wins on Tuesday.

Howard's Coldwater rink improved to 4-0 with a 6-4 win over Mark Kean.

Kean's Annandale rink gave the defending champions a scare, scoring two in the ninth end to narrow Howard's lead to 5-4, but Howard ended the threat with a point in the final end to edge ahead of Brampton's Peter Corner in the overall standings.

Corner, the only other undefeated skip, was idle in Tuesday's late draw and remained at 3-0.

The two front-runners were in action in the early draw. Howard opened the day with a lopsided 8-3 win over Greg Balsdon of the Loonie Curling Club. Howard broke the game open with four points in the fifth end.

Corner needed an extra end to keep pace, defeating Arnprior's Chris Gardner 8-7.

Corner and Howard are familiar with each other. Both were members of Russ Howard's Penetanguishene rink that won four straight Ontario titles from 1991 to 1994.

Corner won his lone Ontario title in 2000.

Thornhill's Mike Anderson suffered his first loss in the late draw, falling 9-7 to Balsdon. Anderson fell to 2-1 while Balsdon improved to 2-2.

Woodstock's Wayne Tuck Jr. beat Harriston's Jake Higgs 10-3. Both skips are 2-2.

Gardner earned his first win of the tournament, 9-6 over Listowel's Daryl Shane.

Brampton's Dayna Deruelle also got his first win, beating Winchester's Bryan Cochrane 8-7 in an extra end.