Howard clinches top spot

THE CANADIAN PRESS

STRATFORD, Ont. -- Glenn Howard clinched top spot at the Dominion Tankard Ontario men's curling championship with another lopsided win.

Howard improved to 8-0 on Thursday, needing just five ends to beat Listowel's Daryl Shane 8-2. Howard has wrapped up each of his last four wins in six ends or less as his Coldwater rink looks for its seventh Tankard title in a row.

The only curler with a hope of tying Howard in the standings is Brampton's Peter Corner, but Howard would still get top spot because of his 11-1 win over Corner on Wednesday night.

Howard opened with two points against Shane, then scored three in the third and three in the fifth as the teams shook hands early.

Corner rebounded from the lopsided loss to Howard, beating Thornhill's Mike Anderson 9-7 to improve to 5-2 and take sole possession of second place. The top four teams qualify for the Page playoff games.

Anderson (4-3) fell into a tie for third with Brampton's Dayna Deruelle, who beat Arnprior's Chris Gardner 10-9 in an extra end. Deruelle has looked impressive after starting the tournament with a pair of losses.

In other early results, Mark Kean of Ajax beat Greg Balsdon of Richmond Hill 11-5 and Woodstock's Wayne Tuck Jr. edged Winchester's Bryan Cochrane 7-6.

Balsdon, Cochrane and Harriston's Jake Higgs are still in the playoff picture, tied for fifth at 3-4.

Kean and Tuck are at 3-5, followed by Gardner and Shane at 2-5.