KAMLOOPS, February 27….The Strauss Canada Cup, now in its sixth year, got underway this morning at the Interior Savings Centre, with many of the best women’s and men’s teams in the country in attendance.

There’s a lot on the line at the Strauss this year…not only do the winning teams get $25,000 each, but more importantly, they also become part of the pool of 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams eligible for the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, which will determine Canada’s representatives for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The winners also get berths into the 2008 Continental Cup in Camrose, Alberta as members of Team North America and return as the defending Canada Cup champions when the event moves to Yorkton, Saskatchewan next year.  

In Wednesday morning men’s first draw action, Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton defeated Mike McEwen 6-4, Edmonton’s three-time Cup winner Randy Ferbey clipped the Reid Carruthers team, which is being skipped this week by two-time world junior champion Charley Thomas, 8-6, while Pat Simmons of Davidson, Saskatchewan upended two-time Cup winner Kevin Martin of Edmonton, 7-6.  Martin has a new third for this week only, Kevin Park, who is replacing an injured John Morris.

On the women’s side, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, fresh from her victory in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Regina last Sunday, continued to roll, beating Sherry Anderson of Saskatoon, 8-5.  The Jones team has now won nine games in a row…her final eight at the Scotties and her opener here.

In the other game, 2007 Canadian and world champion Kelly Scott of Kelowna took three in the 10th end to edge 2006 Cup winner Cathy King of Edmonton, 8-6.  

Scott had a new player for this game as well, Karla Sparks, who normally plays third for Allison MacInnes of Kamloops.  Sparks temporarily replaced third Jeanna Schraeder but played lead, while Sasha Carter and Renee Simons moved up one position to third and second, respectively.   Schraeder may be available for Scott’s next game tonight against Heather Rankin.

Draws continue today at 12:30 pm, 4:30 pm and 8:30 pm PT.   Draws on Thursday are at 8:30 am, 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm, with Friday’s games at 8:30 am, 1:30 pm and 6:00 pm, prior to the playoffs.

Other teams competing include Ontario’s reigning Canadian and world champion Glenn Howard of Coldwater, 2006 Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue of St. John’s and 2008 Scotties runner-up and 2006 Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary.

Five of the men’s teams….Kerry Burtnyk, Gushue, Howard. Martin and Simmons are also headed to the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier, March 8-16 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, after this week.

The Cup teams are seeded into two five-team groups and play a round robin within the group plus a crossover game against an opponent in the other group.  The top two in each pool then advance to a crossover Page Playoff system, whereby the group winners meet in one game (winner to final, loser to semi-final), while the group runners-up meet in another game (winner to semi-final, loser eliminated).

In women’s, Pool A consists of Jennifer Jones, Cheryl Bernard, Sherry Anderson, Cathy King and Janet Harvey, while Pool B has Shannon Kleibrink, Kelly Scott, Stefanie Lawton, Heather Rankin and Kristie Moore.   In men’s, Pool C has Kevin Martin, Kevin Koe, Jeff Stoughton, Pat Simmons and Mike McEwen, while Pool D lists Glenn Howard, Randy Ferbey, Kerry Burtnyk, Brad Gushue and Reid Carruthers (Charley Thomas).

CBC-TV will televise the 1 vs 1 Page Playoff games on Saturday, March 1 and the women’s and men’s finals on Sunday, March 2, in a special five-hour telecast.   CurlTV (www.curltv.com) is also providing event coverage to its subscribers.

In addition to first place being worth $25,000, the second place finishers get $15,000, third place receives $10,000 while fourth place teams earn $5,000.  Each round robin victory is also worth $800.  

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