2012 Continental Cup of Curling

Event summary

Team World and Team North America started off the event relatively close in points. On Thursday, both teams tied their team draws and Team World took a small lead after the first mixed doubles draw. The second day, Friday, also resulted in tied draws in the team games, but Team World won three close mixed doubles games to take a larger lead heading into Day 3. Saturday saw the singles competition, where Team World swept the women's competition and won the aggregate bonus, and two very close skins draws, which Team North America used to make up their deficit. In the Skins B games, a series of carryovers had resulted in the games' final skins worth a combined total of 52 points. Team North America had the opportunity to take their first lead in the event, but only won one of the three final skins, giving Team World a big advantage. Team North America was able to prevent Team World from winning the Cup on Saturday, but Team World entered Sunday needing only 31 points to win the Cup.

In the Women's Skins C game, Stefanie Lawton and her team were able to prevent Wang Bingyu from winning the Cup in their skins game by winning the first five ends, but Wang and her team came back to pick up the last three skins and thirty points, placing Team World on the brink of victory at 200 points, one point short of the 201 point total needed to win the Cup. The pressure shifted to Jeff Stoughton to keep the North Americans' hopes of a comeback alive. Team World's position at 200 points meant that it was possible for Team North America to tie the event, if Stoughton won all of the skins in his game versus Thomas Ulsrud, a feat that Anette Norberg accomplished in 2003 against Sherry Middaugh. In the event that the Continental Cup ended in a tie, the rules stipulated that the defending champion, North America, would retain the cup, similar to that in the rules of the Ryder Cup in golf. If there was a tie, the purses would have been split equally among all players. The Men's Skins C game saw Ulsrud and his team capitalize on a mistake by Stoughton to secure a skin of five points and win the eighth edition of the Continental Cup. The winning team, Team World, received a purse of CAD$52,000, CAD$2,000 per player, and the losing team received a purse of CAD$26,000, CAD$1,000 per player. The winning team of the last men's skin game (the Men's Skins C game), Team World, received a bonus of CAD$13,000.

Teams

The teams were selected from the top teams in each region. Six teams from each region will compete against each other in the competition. Teams from Canada get to represent North America by virtue of winning certain events, such as the Tim Hortons Brier and the Canada Cup of Curling. The teams from the United States are chosen by the United States Curling Association to represent North America, and the teams representing Team World are selected by the World Curling Federation.

The teams in the table below have been announced as representatives of their respective regions. For Team North America, the teams participating include Canada Cup champions Stefanie Lawton and Glenn Howard, Tournament of Hearts champion Amber Holland, Brier champion Jeff Stoughton, and the United States men's and women's champions Pete Fenson and Patti Lank. For Team World, the teams participating include world champion Anette Norberg, former world champion Wang Bingyu, world junior champion Eve Muirhead, world bronze medalist Niklas Edin, world silver medalist Tom Brewster, and Olympic silver medalist Thomas Ulsrud.

;Notes

1. Steve Gould, Stoughton's lead, was not able to participate in the event due to illness, so Hebert, Kevin Martin's lead, was chosen as his replacement.

Events

All times listed are Pacific Standard Time. The draws for Thursday and Friday were released on Wednesday night, and the draws for Saturday and Sunday were released on Friday afternoon.

Thursday, January 12

Women's team 8:30 am |0|0|0|2|0|0|2|1| |5 |0|1|0|0|2|3|0|0| |6 |1|0|1|4|0|4|1|0| |11 |0|1|0|0|1|0|0|1| |3 |1|0|1|0|1|0|2|0| |5 |0|1|0|1|0|1|0|2| |5

Mixed doubles 1:00 pm |2|0|4|0|1|0|0|0| |7 |0|1|0|2|0|2|0|2| |7 |1|0|1|1|1|0|0|X| |4 |0|5|0|0|0|2|1|X| |8 |0|4|0|0|3|0|2|0| |9 |1|0|4|1|0|1|0|2| |9

Men's team 6:30 pm |0|0|1|0|0|0|X|X| |1 |2|1|0|0|2|2|X|X| |7 |0|1|0|4|0|2|1|X| |8 |0|0|1|0|2|0|0|X| |3 |0|0|0|0|1|1|0|2| |4 |2|0|0|1|0|0|1|0| |4

Friday, January 13

Women's team 8:30 am |1|0|0|1|3|0|3|X| |8 |0|0|2|0|0|3|0|X| |5 |0|1|1|1|0|0|1|0| |4 |2|0|0|0|1|1|0|2| |6 |0|0|1|0|1|0|0|1| |3 |0|1|0|1|0|1|0|0| |3 Mixed doubles 1:00 pm |1|0|0|1|0|1|1|X| |4 |0|2|1|0|2|0|0|X| |5 |0|0|0|0|3|0|2|2| |7 |2|2|2|1|0|1|0|0| |8 |0|1|0|0|3|0|1|X| |5 |1|0|3|1|0|2|0|X| |7 Men's team 7:00 pm |0|0|0|1|0|4|1|X| |6 |0|0|3|0|1|0|0|X| |4 |2|0|0|0|1|0|1|0| |4 |0|0|1|0|0|1|0|2| |4 |0|0|3|0|1|0|2|0| |6 |1|2|0|2|0|1|0|1| |7

Saturday, January 14

A Skins 9:00 am

Each skins game has 20 points available. | | |X| |X| | | | | |X|X| |X| |0|X|X| | |X| |X| |X| |0|X| | | |0| |0| |X| | | | |0| | |X|X| | | | | | |X|X| | |X|X|X| |

Singles 1:30 pm

Each singles game has 4 points available, for a total of 32 points in the singles competition. |0|5|3|2|1|0|11 |1|5|5|2|2|0|15 |5|4|5|3|2|1|20 |4|4|5|4|4|0|21 |3|3|5|0|0|0|11 |0|5|4|3|2|5|19 |0|5|3|5|2|0|15 |0|5|2|3|1|3|14 |2|4|5|4|5|5|25 |0|5|5|2|4|0|16 |3|3|2|1|1|5|15 |0|5|5|4|3|0|17 Team World receives a bonus of 8 points in the singles competition by earning an aggregate total higher than that of Team North America, with 102 points to Team North America's 97 points.

B Skins 6:30 pm

Each skins game has 30 points available. |X| |X| |0| |0| | | | |X| |X| |0| |X| | | |0| |0| |X| | | | |0| |0| |0| |0|X| | | |0| |0|X|X| |X| | |X| |X| | | |0| | |

Sunday, January 15

Both skins games have 55 points available.

Women's C Skins 10:30 am |0| |X| |X| | |0| | | |0| |0| |X|X| |X|

Men's C Skins 5:00 pm |X|X| |X|X| | | | | | | |X| | |X|X|X| | With an in-off tap for two in the third end, Ulsrud won the skin of five points and clinched the Continental Cup for Team World. Later on, in the eighth end, Ulsrud and his team took advantage of crucial mistakes from Stoughton to steal the last skin and win the game and the bonus $13,000 for Team World.

References

References

1. (20 January 2011). "Curling's elite set to compete in Langley". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
2. (20 January 2011). "2012 World Financial Group Continental Cup Disciplines". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
3. (12 January 2012). "Fit to be tied: 9-9 after Draw 1". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
4. (13 January 2012). "Draw 3: More saw-offs as World clings to six-point margin". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
5. (12 January 2012). "Draw 2: World edges ahead with splits". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
6. (13 January 2012). "Another split of points at WFG Continental Cup". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
7. (13 January 2012). "World team explodes for doubles sweep". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
8. (14 January 2012). "Men's split leaves Team World calling Continental Cup tune". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
9. (14 January 2012). "Relentless the word for Team World at Continental Cup". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
10. (14 January 2012). "Team World adds eight points to Continental Cup lead". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
11. (15 January 2012). "Team World closer to Continental Cup victory". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
12. (15 January 2012). "Continental Cup — down to the last point". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
13. (15 January 2012). "World Financial Group Continental Cup 2012 - Could end in tie". [[World Curling Federation]].
14. (16 January 2012). "Team World wraps up fourth Continental Cup title". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
15. (5 August 2011). "Teams announced for 2012 World Financial Group Continental Cup". [[World Curling Federation]].
16. "2012 Continental Cup of Curling – Teams". [[World Curling Federation]].
17. (1 April 2011). "The Cups are Filling Up!". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
18. (11 January 2012). "Stoughton, Howard team up against World at Continental Cup". [[Curling on TSN.
19. "2012 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling – Draw Schedule". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
20. "World Financial Group Continental Cup 2012". [[World Curling Federation]].
21. (12 January 2012). "Thursday and Friday pairings announced for WFG Continental Cup". [[Canadian Curling Association]].
22. (14 January 2012). "Saturday and Sunday match-ups announced". [[Canadian Curling Association]].