Jeff Stoughton defeated Mike McEwen 8-2 in six ends to win the National Grand Slam of Curling championship in Port Hawkesbury, N.S. on Sunday afternoon.
McEwen flashed the takeout on his final shot in the fifth as Stoughton held the hammer and eased his last rock in to pick up four points and break a 2-2 tie game.
With four yellow rocks in play, a desperate McEwen needed to clear house in the sixth but couldn’t pull off the shot and Stoughton stole two. The rinks shook hands to end the match.
Stoughton earned his first National title to complete a career Grand Slam. He won the Players’ Championship in 2003, the Masters in 2004 and the Canadian Open in 2006.
Jeff Stoughton becomes 4th skip to win career #curling Grand Slam, joining Martin, Howard and Middaugh! #gsoc
— Grand Slam Curling (@grandslamcurl) January 27, 2013
McEwen picked up a single in the opening end and Stoughton blanked the second to retain the hammer.
Stoughton squeezed his final shot of the third into the house and knocked McEwen’s rock out to pick up a deuce.
McEwen was looking for two in the fourth but had to settle for one.
The two Winnipeg rinks clashed with a championship on the line before. Stoughton came out on top in the 2010 and the 2011 Manitoba provincial finals while McEwen was victorious in the Masters final in November 2010 to earn his first career Grand Slam title.
McEwen thumped Stoughton 9-2 in the round robin but since that loss, Stoughton’s rink went on to win five in a row to set up the rematch.
Team McEwen’s lone loss in the round robin came against Jeff Cotter’s Kelowna/Vernon, B.C., rink. McEwen routed Sweden’s Niklas Edin 7-1 in the quarter-finals and topped Kevin Martin 5-4 in the semis to reach the final.
The final stop on the 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling is the Players’ Championship, April 16-21, at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.