The Continental Cup of Curling became a reality when the first Ryder Cup-like competition was held in Regina, Saskatchewan, November 7-10, 2002.

The creation of such an event had been in the making for several years, as the Canadian Curling Association (CCA), World Curling Federation (WCF) and the United States Curling Association (USCA) discussed various possible competition formats designed to increase world interest in curling.

Officially, both the Continental Cup and the Strauss Canada Cup (in Kamloops) were formally announced in September of 2001, but it wasn’t until December of that year that Regina was selected to host the first Continental Cup, just 11 months later.

No one knew what to expect from the unique competition, but the inaugural Cup couldn’t have been scripted more dramatically nor could an event have been launched with more nail-biting excitement than this one.

North America was represented by four Canadian teams and two teams from the USA. The Canadian teams invited to play in the first Continental Cup were the winners of the 2001 Canadian Curling Trials, 2002 Scott Tournament of Hearts and 2002 Nokia Brier. The USCA selected its reigning national champions.

Meanwhile, the WCF and its member nations selected teams to represent Team World, with a men’s and women’s team from Scotland each guaranteed spots.

A total prize package of $200,000 (Cdn) was available, with the winning side receiving $125,000, while the losing side shared $75,000.

The teams would compete in a variety of competitions, each worth a certain number of points: Mixed Doubles (36), Team (72), Singles (32) and Skins (260). The first side to earn 201 of the 400 available points would be declared the champion.

Mixed Doubles was a new discipline to the sport, pairing a male and female as throwers and another male and female as sweepers. Each team also played five rocks during an end. Team games were regular curling games of eight ends, with no extra ends. Singles involved six basic curling shots, awarded on a points scale from 0-5 to reflect the success of each shot, while Skins games awarded a graduated scale of points for each of the eight ends, with a skin being earned if the team counted two or more points with hammer or registered a steal.

With TSN providing complete event coverage of more than 30 hours, a who’s who of the curling world began a new competition which couldn’t have generated a more thrilling finish.

Team North America was composed of teams skipped by reigning Ford Worlds men’s champion and (then) four-time Brier winner Randy Ferbey, 2002 Olympic silver medallist and two-time Brier winner Kevin Martin, 2002 Olympic bronze medallist and 2000 world champion Kelley Law, 2001 world champion Colleen Jones, 1999 world women’s runner-up Patti Lank and Paul Pustovar, while captained by two-time world champion Rick Folk.

Team World was headed by 2002 Olympic gold medallist skips Pâl Trulsen of Norway and Rhona Martin of Scotland (Great Britain), along with (then) two-time world champion (1997, 2001) Peja Lindholm of Sweden, record four-time world women’s champion (1992, 1995, 1998, 1999) Elisabet Gustafson of Sweden, 2002 Olympic silver medallist Luzia Ebnöther from Switzerland and 1999 world champion Hammy McMillan of Scotland, while Norway’s Kristian Soerum, the 1979 world champion, was the captain.

Team World led 30-24, after the first day of competition, involving women’s and men’s team games and Mixed Doubles. But North America rebounded on Day 2, taking a 60-48 lead into the weekend.

Day 3 was all Team World, who enjoyed success in Singles and women’s and men’s Skins to take a commanding 157-123 lead going into the final day of action, which involved a women and men’s skins game, each worth 60 points.

North America’s Colleen Jones came out on top of Sweden’s Elisabet Gustafson, 41-19, in the women’s 60-pointer, keeping the host continent’s hopes alive, although still trailing by a 176-164 score. The game’s final 13 points were decided by a draw to the button between the two skips, after the eighth and final end of the Skins game resulted in a carry-over. Jones made a perfect draw to cover the button and Gustafson was unable to match it.

That meant the final men’s skins game, between Kevin Martin and Peja Lindholm, would decide it all. The teams entered the eighth and final end (worth 13 points) with the title on the line and an overall score of 194-193 in favour of North America, after Lindholm had allowed Martin to take a 20-point seventh end skin via a steal, while retaining hammer.

The game and the competition went down to the last rock of the last end. Lindholm was forced to try a difficult 20-foot double raise with his last brick, but couldn’t move a Martin counter. Thus, North America was able to steal the 13 points and the first Continental Cup, 207-193.

The 2003 Continental Cup was also worth $200,000 and was held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, November 27-30.

Team North America was represented by skips Randy Ferbey, Mark Dacey, Colleen Jones, Sherry Middaugh, Pete Fenson and Debbie McCormick. Three-time Brier winner Rick Lang was the captain.

The former Team World was renamed Team Europe and was represented once again on the men’s side by Peja Lindholm, Pål Trulsen and Hammy McMillan, while the women’s teams were new to the Cup…Dordi Nordby, Jackie Lockhart and Anette Norberg. Kristian Soerum remained as the captain.

This time, it was Europe’s turn to exact revenge, and they did so emphatically, eventually winning 208-179. Once again, it was the 60-point Skins games which determined the outcome.

After Day 1, both sides were knotted at 18 points. Ditto for Day 2, when the sides also finished with 54 points apiece. On Day 3, North America inched ahead, 149-131, on the strength of winning both the women’s 30 and 40-point Skins games and the men’s 40-pointer.

But on Sunday morning, the roof fell in for North America, as Sweden’s Anette Norberg whitewashed Sherry Middaugh, 60-0 in the 60-point Skins game, allowing Europe to take a 191-149 margin into the men’s 60-pointer at night, pitting Lindholm against Ferbey.

Ferbey was able to keep the event alive through six ends, leading 30-6, but Lindholm finally took a skin worth 11 points in the seventh end, allowing Team Europe to clinch the Cup, as it reached 208 total points. The teams didn’t bother playing the eighth end.

The 2004 Continental Cup was hosted by Medicine Hat, Alberta, November 25-28 and once again featured a star-studded line-up. Although the total purse was still $200,000, the winning side would get $112,500, the losing side $62,500, with $25,000 now earmarked to the side of the winner of the final men’s Skins game.

Europe was represented by skips Dordi Nordby, Anette Norberg, Luzia Ebnöther, Peja Lindholm (for the third year in a row), David Murdoch and Sebastian Stock, with Kristian Soerum returning for the third year in a row as captain.

North America was represented, also for the third year in a row, by Randy Ferbey and Colleen Jones, along with two-time Cup participants Mark Dacey and Patti Lank and newcomers Jason Larway and Marie-France Larouche, with captain Ed Lukowich.

This time, it was North America who led virtually from the start. Although Day 1 ended in a 27-27 tie, the home side took command after Day 2, leading 66-42, and widened its margin to 162-118 after Day 3.

On the final day, after Anette Norberg had defeated Colleen Jones, 41-19 in the 60-point Skins game to cut the margin to 181-159, it was left to Randy Ferbey to cement North America’s win by defeating Peja Lindhom, 47-13, to finish with an overall 228-172 final score.

But once again, the competition was closer than the final score indicated, as the Lindholm-Ferbey match also came down to the last end, when, after two carryovers, the eighth end was worth 33 points.

Lindholm needed to steal the eighth end to win, but facing three Ferbey counters, his last rock hit and rolled too far, leaving last rock thrower Dave Nedohin an open takeout for the win.

The four-day event attracted a record crowd of 42,317 to the Arena.

As planned, there was no Continental Cup in 2005, since the Canadian Curling Trials were being held instead in Halifax.

The 2006 Continental Cup, now worth $120,000, was staged in Chilliwack, British Columbia, November 23-26. And what a line-up it boasted. In fact, all of the medallists from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy were there.

Team Europe skips were gold medallist Anette Norberg, silver medallists Mirjam Ott and Markku Uusipaavalniemi, along with 1988 world champion Andrea Schöpp, 2002 Olympic gold medallist Pål Trulsen and 2006 world champion David Murdoch. Europe’s captain was Elisabet Gustafson, while Mike Hay was the coach.

Team North America was led by gold medallist Brad Gushue, 2006 Tim Hortons Brier winner Jean-Michel Ménard, bronze medallists Pete Fenson and Shannon Kleibrink, 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts champion Kelly Scott and 2003 world champion Debbie McCormick. Lindsay Sparkes was the captain, while Linda Moore was assistant captain.

This time, it was Europe’s turn to even the score at two Cups apiece, although it trailed after Day 1, 39-15 and 62-60 after Day 2.

However, Day 3 was its coming out party, as Europe took 114 out of a possible 140 points in Skins play to take a commanding 180-100 lead into the final day. Schöpp won the 30-point game over McCormick, 30-0, Uusipaavalniemi beat Fenson, 20-10, Ott hammered Scott, 34-6 and Trulsen beat Ménard, 30-10.

Sunday appeared to be just a formality, as Europe needed only 21 points from a possible 120 points in the women’s and men’s Skins games. Norberg faced Kleibrink in the 60-point game and Kleibrink did her best to keep it alive, holding Norberg to eight points through six ends.

The men’s final, featuring Murdoch against Gushue, was also going on at the same time, having started when the women’s game reached the fifth end break. Murdoch took an eight-point skin in the second end to push Europe’s total to 196.

Then, an 11-point skin in the seventh end for Norberg clinched it for Europe, pushing its total to 207 points. Norberg eventually took another 13-point skin in the last end to win her game, 32-28 over Kleibrink. Although Gushue defeated Murdoch, 43-17, it mattered not, as Europe had already clinched. The final tally read Europe 229, North America 171.

The 2007 Continental Cup, offering a total purse of $88,400, is returning to Medicine Hat on December 13-16 and again features a tremendous line-up.

North America has Randy Ferbey, making his fourth Cup appearance, reigning world champions Glenn Howard and Kelly Scott, along with 2005 Canadian champion Jennifer Jones, 2007 worlds bronze medallist Todd Birr and 2003 world champion Debbie McCormick,

Europe has almost all new faces on its squad, including 2007 world silver medallists Angelina Jensen of Denmark and Andy Kapp of Germany, Russia’s 2006 European champion Liudmila Privivkova, Scotland’s 2007 worlds bronze medallist Kelly Wood and Switzerland’s 2002 Olympic bronze Andreas Schwaller. Only Scotland’s 2006 world champion David Murdoch is returning, in his third Cup appearance.

Similar to last year, CBC-TV will televise games from Saturday and Sunday, including the final women’s and men’s Skins games.