Koe wins Players’ Championship

Calgary’s Kevin Koe maintained his perfect record en route to capturing the Players’ Championship on Sunday while Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg failed to defend her title on the women’s side.

Koe beat Sweden’s Niklas Edin 6-2 for the men’s title in the afternoon before Jones fell 7-2 to American Jamie Sinclair in the evening.

It is the fifth curling Grand Slam title of Koe’s career. Edin won the world championship in Las Vegas one week ago.

The Koe rink finished the tournament with an untarnished 8-0 record.

Koe opened the scoring with the hammer, converting on a double takeout to score two points in the second end.

The reigning world champion cut the lead in half by drawing one in the third end.

After back-and-forth singles in the fourth and fifth, Koe’s rink stretched the lead by taking out Edin’s counter and scoring a deuce.

Edin looked to score in the seventh end, but jammed and conceded a single.

Jones, who was the lone women’s skip without a loss at the tournament, fell in a hole against Sinclair and couldn’t recover.

Sinclair got on the board in the second end after Jones jammed on a double-takeout attempt and gave up a point.

Jones conceded another two points after missing back-to-back raises and failing to wipe Sinclair’s stones in the third.

Sinclair added another point in the fourth end to extend the lead to 4-0. Jones scored in the fifth end and added another point in the sixth, but never got any closer.

Sinclair’s rink became the first American team to capture a Grand Slam title.

The Players’ Championship is the penultimate event of the Grand Slam curling season.