Calgary’s Kevin Koe cruised to his seventh career Alberta men’s provincial curling championship.
Koe closed out an undefeated 5-0 run through the Boston Pizza Cup with a decisive 8-4 victory over Edmonton’s Ted Appelman during Sunday’s final in Grande Prairie, Alta.
The crew of Koe, third B.J. Neufeld, second John Morris and lead Ben Hebert will now represent the home side at the Tim Hortons Brier, March 4-13, in Lethbridge, Alta.
Brendan Bottcher did not defend the Alberta championship as he already held the Team Canada auto-berth spot. Bottcher beat Koe, competing as Wild Card Two, during last year’s Brier final in the Calgary bubble.
It was a clinical victory for Koe, who started with the hammer and pulled off a sparkling double raise to score a deuce in the opening end.
That set the tone as Koe maintained complete control forcing Appelman to single points during the even ends and adding three additional deuces in the odd ends.
Appelman shook hands after settling for his fourth lone point in the eighth.
The two-time world and four-time Brier champion Koe qualified for the playoffs through the A-side of the triple knockout and defeated Calgary’s Jeremy Harty 10-3 during Saturday’s Page 1-2 playoff game to reach the final.
Appelman, who advanced to the playoffs with a 5-2 record through the C-side, ousted Edmonton’s Karsten Sturmay 7-1 in the Page 3-4 game and scored a 7-6 win over Harty in Sunday’s semifinal.
Meanwhile, Edmonton’s Laura Walker will return to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts after edging Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge 6-5 during the Alberta women’s final.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is scheduled for Jan. 28-Feb. 6 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
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