Kevin Koe’s rink emerged victorious at the first ever IG Wealth Management Western Showdown on October 8-11 at the Swift Current Curling Club. The Calgary rink claimed the $14,000 prize for topping the 24-team World Curling Tour event that included opposition from across Canada, the United States, South Korea, and Japan.
Koe, a two-time world champion, scored eight unanswered points to defeat Brad Jacobs 8-1 in the championship final. Jacobs held the hammer in the opening end and scored one point. Koe replied with three in the second and and then stole one in the third. He closed out the game with steals of two in the fourth and fifth ends.
The Calgary rink included Koe, third John Morris, second B.J. Neufeld, and lead Ben Hebert as they finished with eight wins and two losses in Swift Current.
Koe lost two of his first four games before winning six straight to claim the championship.
The four-time Canadian champion opened the A Event with a 7-5 win over Rylan Kleiter (Saskatoon) before losing 8-7 to Tyler Tardi (Surrey, BC). Koe’s run in the B Event was also two games after he defeated Jason Jacobson (Saskatoon) 8-6 and lost 4-3 to Matt Dunstone (Regina).
The Calgary rink then rattled off wins over Shaun Meachem (Swift Current) 5-3, SooHyuk Kim (Gyeongbuk, Korea) 6-1, and Jacobson 6-4 to reach the championship event.
Koe got past Kody Hurtung (Saskatoon) 6-5 in the quarter-finals and Pat Simmons (Winnipeg) 5-3 in the semi-final.
