KAMLOOPS, February 28....The winning streak of the hottest team in the country came to a halt Thursday morning at the Strauss Canada Cup.

Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones, who won eight straight games at the recent Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Regina, while winning her second Canadian women’s title, then her first two games here, dropped an 8-5 decision to Calgary's Cheryl Bernard in Draw 5 action at the Interior Savings Centre.

Single steals by Bernard in the fourth and fifth ends, then a three-spot in the seventh end ended the 'Tobans' 10-game run.    Bernard now finds herself alone in top spot in Section A with a 3-0 mark.   Jones drops to 2-1, while an idle Sherry Anderson of Saskatoon is at 1-1, followed by Cathy King of Edmonton at 0-2 and Winnipeg's Janet Harvey at 0-3.

In Section, B, Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink remained perfect, now at 3-0, by edging Harvey, 5-4 while Edmonton’s Kristie Moore nipped Heather Rankin of Calgary, 7-6.  Right behind Kleibrink is Kelowna’s Kelly Scott at 2-0, with Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton at 1-1, Moore at 1-2 and Rankin at 0-3.

On the men’s side, Edmonton’s Kevin Koe kept up his torrid pace, beating Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton, 8-5, in a battle of previously-undefeated teams in Section A.  A four-spot in the seventh put Koe in front, 6-4, before a deuce in the ninth clinched it.   Stoughton drops to 2-1, with Kevin Martin and Pat Simmons at 1-1 and Mike McEwen at 0-2.

Brad Gushue of St. John’s won his second straight, a 7-3 pasting of Winnipeg’s winless Kerry Burtnyk, to move to 2-1 in Section B, just behind Coldwater’s Glenn Howard, who is unbeaten at 2-0.  Randy Ferbey is next at 1-1, with Reid Carruthers (skip Charley Thomas) at 0-2 and Burtnyk now 0-3.

Play continues this afternoon with a draw at 1:30 pm, followed by an evening session at 7:00 pm PT.

Twenty of the finest men’s and women’s teams are contesting this sixth Strauss Canada Cup.   The winners not only receive $25,000, but more importantly, 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.  

The Cup teams have been 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).

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.

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