Koe takes five in 9th end for trip to the Brier

It was like hitting a walk-off Grand Slam home run in the ninth inning when you were down by a run. Except it was for five, not four. And it was more of a bunt. How do you go into a ninth end of the provincial men’s curling final leading 5-4 for a purple heart and a trip to the Brier and give up FIVE?

“We just played the No. 1 team in the world. That’s what happened,” said Edmonton’s Ted Appelman.

The Avonair skip and his team of Nelson Connelly, Shawn Donnelly, Adam Enright were writing one of the great curling stories of all time to that point. Ranked 49th in the world, they were within two ends of running the table with a perfect 5-0 record in an event featuring two of the top teams in the world including No. 1 Kevin Koe.

Going into the end they’d outscored their opposition 40-19. Twice they’d defeated Brendan Bottcher, the team that won the last two provincial titles. Appelman defeated Bottcher 10-4 and 8-3. There was no high-wire act involved.

“They were better than we were,” said Bottcher.

And they had Koe, who didn’t play in the event the last two years while wearing Team Canada uniforms at the Brier as defending champions and at the Olympics, on the run in the final.

“We were having a really good game to that point and we really wanted to push the issue. We just went a little too hard for the force. We missed a couple of shots and they made everything,” said Appelman. “We played really well without the hammer. That’s why we were so confident that we could get a force out of them on the ninth. We just missed a couple of shots,” said Appelman.

“It kind of came out of nowhere. Ted played kind of aggressive in nine. He played great all game but on his first one he kind of overthrew it,” said Koe of the flash through a house with seven rocks in play.

Appelman’s last rock was a bit of a Hail Mary. Koe had a simple nose-hit for five. Game over.

“We sure needed it. Those guys sure had us on our heels. Colton Flasch and B.J. Neufeld made some real beauties on nine to get them in trouble,” said Koe lead Ben Hebert.

Two years ago Appelman lost the final to Bottcher in Westlock.

Asked which one was more devastating, Appelman had no answer.

“Oh, man, they both suck. But to get to the final two of three years and lose to two of the top teams in the world.

“It’s Alberta. I don’t know what to say about this province.”

In the end it was another chapter in the Kevin Koe Story. And what is it with this guy?

Koe was playing with a net. If he’d lost, he’d have been in the play-in game to be the wild-card team in the Brier, but he didn’t want that.

“It feels better wearing the Alberta colours for sure than the wild-card colours,” he said.

“It feels good. I’m happy for the guys, especially grinding it out today.”