Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton needed a pressure draw to the button to take home $70,500 in the Travelers All-Star Curling Skins Game presented by Pinty’s final at Banff’s Fenlands rec centre, Sunday (Jan. 12).
The game was aired by TSN.
By the eighth end of the final, which saw both masterful shots and a few misses, Stoughton was ahead of Alberta’s Kevin Martin, $16,000 to $4,000 and the issue had to be settled with a draw to the button. In all, $42,000 was up for grabs over eight ends and the winner would receive a $15,000 bonus.
Both Stoughton and Martin hit the button with their finals draws, but Stoughton was just 11.5 centimetres from the pin for the victory.
Martin had a lead of $4,000 after two ends and Stoughton picked up $3,000 in the third end. That score stood until the sixth end, when, thanks to carryovers, Stoughton stole $13,000 and the lead.
Brilliant shot making in the seventh and eighth ends meant two more carryovers and the score remained $16,000 to $4,000 for Stoughton.
With carryovers, the draw to the button was worth the remaining $22,000, plus the $15,000 winner bonus; $37,000 in total.
Stoughton’s total of $70,500 included $17,500 from a Saturday (Jan. 11) semifinal victory.
Stoughton’s rink was hand picked in a draft on Friday (Jan. 10) and consisted of third Dave Nedohin, second Brent Laing and lead Ryan Harnden. Martin’s rink was composed of third Ryan Fry, second Carter Rycroft and lead Mark Nichols.
After the game, Stoughton said of picking his team, “I picked a bunch of muckers and future Olympians; it worked out really well for us and it looks pretty good now.”
With the Skins Game format, online voters picked the top 16 men’s players in Canada, then four skips, Stoughton, Martin, Newfoundland’s Kevin Gushue and Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, who will represent Canada at the Olympics, then chose their teams.
Through the Skins event Stoughton won $70,500, Martin $15,500, Jacobs $9,500 and Gushue $3,500 in skins and a $1,000 draw to the button bonus.
The Skins Games was sponsored by Travelers, Pinty’s the Rimrock Hotel, VTech, Chartered Professional Accountants, Nature’s Path, Canada Goose, the Town of Banff and Banff Lake Louise Tourism.
