The 2013 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling was held from January 10 to 13 at the

South Okanagan Events Centre The South Okanagan Events Centre is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Penticton Vees ice hockey team. The arena opened to the public in September 2008. Previously, the Vees played at Pentict ...

Penticton Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration The ce ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The Continental Cup, based on the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

of golf, pitted teams from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

against teams from the rest of the World. The tournament featured team events,

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

events, singles competitions, and skins competitions, and the brunt of available points was awarded in the skins competitions. TSN broadcast the event, as it had in previous years. Team North America was represented by

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

champions

Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned over five decades, she was nominated ...

and Kevin Martin,

Tournament of Hearts The Scotties Tournament of Hearts (''french: Le Tournoi des Cœurs Scotties''; commonly referred to as the Scotties) is the annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada, formerly called the Canadian Curling Associat ...

champion

Heather Nedohin Heather Nedohin (born Heather Godberson; July 15, 1975) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. She is a Canadian former and World Junior champion, two-time Tournament of Hearts Champion and a two-time World bronze medalist. She is m ...

Brier Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to: * Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket People * Brier (surname) * Briers, a surname * Briars (surname) Places * Briar, Missouri, U.S. * Bri ...

champion

Glenn Howard Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight ...

, and the United States men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

champions Heath McCormick and

Allison Pottinger Allison Pottinger ( Darragh, born July 5, 1973) is an American curler from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. She is best known as having played for Debbie McCormick in multiple Olympics and World Championships. McCormick left the team in 2010. She comp ...

, respectively. Team World was represented by reigning world champion

Mirjam Ott Mirjam Ott (born 27 January 1972 in Bern, Switzerland) is a retired Swiss curler who lives in Laax, Switzerland. She is the 2012 World Curling Champion skip. She is the skip (captain) of the Swiss Olympic Curling Team. She has participated in se ...

, world silver medalist

Margaretha Sigfridsson Margaretha Sigfridsson (born 28 January 1976) is a Swedish curler who in 2009 was inducted into the Swedish Curling Hall of Fame. Curling career Early career Sigfridsson skipped the Swedish team at the 1997 World Junior Curling Championship ...

, four-time world junior champion

Eve Muirhead Eve Muirhead (born 22 April 1990) is a Scottish former curler from Perth and the skip of the British Olympic Curling team. Muirhead and the GB team became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bro ...

, two-time world bronze medalist

Niklas Edin Johan Niklas Edin (born 6 July 1985) is a Swedish curler. He currently resides in Karlstad, which has been his curling home base since 2008. He holds several sport distinctions. He is the first and the only skip in World Curling Federation (WCF ...

, two-time world silver medalist

Tom Brewster Thomas Brewster Jr. (born 10 April 1974) is a Scottish curler from Aberdeen, Scotland. He is currently the coach of the Ross Paterson men's team. Career Brewster is a former World Junior champion, having won the title in 1995. The Scottish t ...

, and two-time European champion

Thomas Ulsrud Thomas Ulsrud (21 October 1971 – 24 May 2022) was a Norwegian curler from Oslo. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, one World Curling Championship, two European Curling Championships, and fourteen Norwegian titles ( Norwegian M ...

. Team World entered the event as the defending champions, but were unseated by Team North America. Team World took an early lead in the first day of the event, but Team North America roared back in the next few days, dominating in the team, mixed doubles, and singles competitions to hold a large lead. Team North America clinched the cup in the second round of skins play after holding back a late Team World comeback, giving Team North America a 5–4 edge in the overall cup record. Team North America's win ensured that no defending champion to date would successfully defend its title from the previous Cup.

Competition format

Six teams from North America and six teams representing the rest of the World play a series of games against each other in order to win points. The first side to win a majority of the points available wins the cup. Teams compete in four formats: team games,

games, singles competitions, and

skins game A skins game is a type of scoring for various sports. It has its origins in golf but has been adapted for disc golf, curling and bowling. Golf In golf, a skins event has players compete for prize money on each individual hole. Skins Game, PGA T ...

s. Team games are regular

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

games, with two teams of four playing against each other. Mixed doubles games involve two teams, each consisting of one male and one female, playing against each other. Mixed doubles teams use only six stones per end, one of which is positioned prior to the start of the end. This is in contrast to the eight stones per end used by teams of four in regular curling games. The singles competition involves two teams playing against each other. There are six types of shots contested in the singles competitions. Each curler from each team is assigned to throw at least one type of shot. Points are given based on how well the shot is made. After all of the shots have been thrown, the team with the most points wins the competition. Skins games involve two teams playing against each other, where the objective is to win skins by scoring two or more points with the

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

or stealing points without the hammer. The points for the skins games, which go toward the total points for the cup, are distributed throughout the game, and the teams earn these points by winning skins. A new points system was implemented in the 2013 Continental Cup of Curling. The total of points available was 60 points, compared to the total of 400 points used in previous years. The mixed doubles, singles, and team games were worth one point each, and ties were worth one half point each to both teams. The skins games were worth a total of five points. All games were eight ends long, and there were no extra ends. Also, six mixed doubles games and six singles competition games were played, as before. However, there were eighteen team games instead of the previous twelve, and there were six skins games instead of the previous eight.

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. Four teams from Canada earn the right to represent Team North America by virtue of winning certain events, namely the

Canada Cup of Curling The Canada Cup (branded as the Home Hardware Canada Cup for sponsorship reasons, and also referred to as the Canada Cup of Curling) is a major men's and women's curling championship in Canada. It is organized by Curling Canada and is one of its ma ...

and the Canadian National Championships (the

and the

). Two teams from the United States are chosen by the

United States Curling Association The United States Curling Association (USCA or USA Curling) is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions both ...

to represent North America, and the teams representing Team World are selected by the

World Curling Federation The World Curling Federation (WCF) is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It was formed out of the International Curling Federation (ICF), when the push for Olympic Winter Sport status was made. T ...

. The teams in the table below have been announced as representatives of their respective regions.

Event summary

Day 1

Team World and Team North America began the event with women's team play.

and

played a high-scoring game which resulted in a win for Ott, and

scored an early lead over

and held it to win another point for Team World.

made a precise draw to tie her game with

and secured a half-point for Team North America, averting a sweep by Team World. Team World held a two-point lead coming into the first mixed doubles round, where they split the three points available with Team North America. The North American pair of John Morris and

Kaitlyn Lawes Lesley Kaitlyn Lawes (born December 16, 1988) is a Canadian curler. Lawes was the long time third for the Jennifer Jones team that represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics where they won the gold medal. They were the first women's team to ...

dominated Team World's

and

Christina Bertrup Christina Bertrup (born 23 December 1976) is a Swedish curler. She presently throws third rock for Margaretha Sigfridsson. Curling career Bertrup began her international curling career as the alternate player for Elisabet Gustafson. With Gust ...

made a game-saving shot with

Dean Gemmell Dean Gemmell (born August 27, 1967) is a Canadian-American curler and writer who currently resides in Short Hills, New Jersey. Along with John Morris, he is the co-author of the book ''Fit to Curl, Sport Specific Training for the World's Greate ...

to tie their game with

Michael Goodfellow Michael Goodfellow OBE (born 8 January 1941) is a British professor in microbial systematics, specialising in Actinomycetota taxonomy. He earlier served as head of the School of Biology in University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is also the ch ...

and

, and

Christoffer Svae Christoffer Svae (born 21 March 1982) is a Norwegian curler from Oslo. He is best known as the former second for Team Thomas Ulsrud."Christoffer Svae" (Teams > Events). ASHAM World Curling Tour. Retrieved 4 May 2010."Christoffer Svae, Curling ...

and Carmen Schäfer stole a win over

Marc Kennedy Marc Kennedy (born February 5, 1982) is a Canadian curler, and Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist from St. Albert, Alberta. In 2019, Kennedy was named the greatest Canadian male second in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, repo ...

and

after Pottinger was light on a draw. Team North America closed the two-point gap by one point in men's team play, where they won two of the three games. Both

of Team World and Kevin Martin of Team North America won close games against Heath McCormick and

, respectively, while

made a double-takeout in the last end to hold his lead and win the game over

. At the end of the day, Team World led Team North America 5–4.

Day 2

In the morning draw, women's team play saw Team North America turning the tables on Team World by winning two games and splitting the points for the third.

held a slight lead over

, who tried to win the game in the final end but fell short and tied the game.

and

played a back-and-forth game which saw Ott miss a double-takeout attempt for the win, allowing Jones to steal the point.

stole three in the fifth end against

and held the lead through the rest of the game, capping off the game with a four-point end. The singles competition, similar to a

skills competition Skills competitions refer to special exhibition contests that take place during all-star games or other special events in professional sports. Generally, they are held the day before the all-star games. These events seem to serve at least two p ...

in ice hockey, involved team members from each of the twelve teams attempting six types of shots. Team North America fared well in the singles competition, winning four of the six matchups and earning four points. On the women's side, the teams skipped by Allison Pottinger and Mirjam Ott scored the highest total of points at 18 points, while on the men's side,

's team scored the highest total of points at 22 points. The evening draw, which consisted of men's team play, saw Team North America extending their lead to five points. Heath McCormick dominated against

, who lost second

in the middle of the game due to illness. Kevin Martin established an early lead in the first half of the game versus

and held his lead to win. Glenn Howard had a chance to make the draw a North America sweep, starting off with a small lead against

, but a mistake in the eighth end from

Brent Laing Brent George Laing (born December 10, 1978) is a Canadian curler from Horseshoe Valley, Ontario. He currently plays lead for Mike McEwen. He grew up in Meaford, Ontario. Career Curling out of the Ottawa Curling Club (in Ottawa) and later the ...

led to a chance for Brewster to come back and tie the game, which he did. At the end of the day, Team North America led Team World 13–8.

Day 3

The morning draw consisted of mixed doubles play, where Team North America dominated Team World and earned the first sweep of three points in the event. Heath McCormick and

Jessica Mair Jessica Amundson (born May 14, 1984 as Jessica Mair) is a Canadians, Canadian curling, curler. She played second for the 2012 national champion Heather Nedohin rink. Before joining the Nedohin rink, Amundson was a top collegiate curler. In 2005, ...

dominated

Sebastian Kraupp Sebastian Kraupp (born 20 May 1985) is a Swedish curler from Karlstad, Sweden. He currently coaches the Swedish men's junior team. From 2005 to 2008 Sebastian Kraupp skipped his own team. Starting with the 2008–2009 season he joined Niklas Ed ...

and

Maria Prytz Maria Prytz (born 18 October 1976; née Engholm) is a Swedish curler from Härnösand. Prytz was the longtime alternate player for the Anette Norberg rink. Career Prytz's first two trips to the World Junior Curling Championships were as the alt ...

, stealing three ends en route to a six-point victory.

and Natalie Nicholson held an early lead over

Greg Drummond Greg Drummond (born 3 February 1989 in Forfar) is a Scottish curler from Stirling. Career Drummond first appeared on the world stage as the alternate for the Scottish team at the 2007 World Junior Curling Championships. The team, skipped by ...

and

Anna Sloan Anna Sloan (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish curler. She was the longtime third for the Eve Muirhead rink. Representing Scotland, they won the 2011 European Championships, the 2013 World Championships, and the 2017 European Championships. ...

after a four-point second end, but Drummond and Sloan came back to make it a close game. In the end, Howard and Nicholson scored two to win the game.

and

played a back-and-forth game with

Torger Nergård Torger Nergård, also spelled Nergaard (born 12 December 1974) is a Norwegian curler from Oslo."Torger Nergaard, Curling" (Curling > Athletes). Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Retrieved 12 Februar ...

and

Carmen Küng Carmen Küng (born 30 January 1978) is a curler from Solothurn, Switzerland. Carmen Küng began her senior elite career as the Third for 2002 Olympic Silver medalist Luzia Ebnöther during the 2006–2007 season. (During this season ...

, but retained control through most of the game and came out with the victory after Küng's last shot left Team North America having shot stone, effectively giving Laing and Jones the win. In the afternoon draw, women's team play saw a split of the three available points.

pushed out to an early lead against

, and held her lead against a struggling Nedohin to win. Jennifer Jones played a back-and-forth game with

, and won on a dramatic finish, tapping a buried stone to score a deuce in the final end.

held an early lead over

, but Sigfridsson rallied with the help of three stolen points and tied the game. The evening draw saw Team North America extending their lead by one point. Heath McCormick and

played a relatively quick game, with McCormick winning on a draw in the final end. Kevin Martin scored a huge four-point end against

and commanded the rest of the match to secure Team North America's second win. Glenn Howard came short in winning his match versus

, however, when a failed in-off shot in the sixth end led to a steal by Edin. Edin secured Team World's only full point in the draw with a double takeout. At the end of the day, Team North America led Team World 19½–10½.

Day 4

The afternoon draw consisted of skins play.

and

played in the women's skins game. Pottinger held an early lead after four straight skins, but Sigfridsson capitalized on missed shots from Pottinger to win the last four skins and the game. Heath McCormick and

played in the men's skins game, where a series of carryovers saw Edin winning the last skin, worth three and a half points, and the game. A mixed team of John Morris,

Beth Iskiw Beth Iskiw (born April 20, 1979 in Truro, Nova Scotia as Beth Roach) is a Canadian curler from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As a junior, Iskiw won four straight provincial junior titles in her native Nova Scotia from 1996 to 1999, playing third ...

Ben Hebert Benjamin "Ben" Hebert (born March 16, 1983) is a Canadian curler, a Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist, 2008 World Champion and four time Brier Champion from Chestermere, Alberta. In 2019, Hebert was named the greatest Canadian ma ...

, and

played

, Scott Andrews, and Claire Hamilton in the mixed skins game. Morris, who skipped against Brewster, held control over the game and limited Brewster in scoring. Brewster won the last point on a draw to the button, giving Team World an 8–7 edge in the first round of skins play. The evening draw also consisted of skins play.

and

played in the women's skins game, in which Jones dominated, scoring four skins and winning four points for Team North America.

and

played in the men's skins game. Ulsrud played a fairly open game, forcing carryovers for five ends until a misfire from Ulsrud led to Howard making the cup-winning shot, scoring three points with a tap for two points. Ulsrud won the remaining points in the game on a draw to the button. A mixed team of Kevin Martin,

, and

Laine Peters Laine Peters ronounced: LAY-nee(born March 24, 1970 in Arborfield, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian curler, from Calgary. Peters has played in 11 Tournament of Hearts and six World Championships. She is currently the coach of the Tabitha Peter ...

played

Vicki Adams Victoria Elizabeth "Vicki" Chalmers (née Adams) (born 16 November 1989) is a Scottish curler who was the long time second for Eve Muirhead. Representing Scotland, they won the 2013 World Championships and the European Championships in 2011 ...

, and

in the mixed skins game. Martin skipped against Muirhead and controlled most of the game, securing four points on four skins before Muirhead took the last skin. Team North America took a 10½–4½ point edge in the second round of skins play, giving them a

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

$13,000 bonus for winning the skins rounds. The final score of the event was 37–23, and the winning team, Team North America, received a purse of CAD$52,000, CAD$2,000 per player, in addition to the skins bonus, while the losing team received a purse of CAD$26,000, CAD$1,000 per player.

Events

All times listed are

Pacific Standard Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). ...

. The draws for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were released on Wednesday night, and the draws for Sunday were released on Saturday afternoon.

Thursday, January 10

Women's team 8:30 am Mixed doubles 1:00 pm Men's team 6:30 pm

Friday, January 11

Women's team 8:30 am Singles 1:00 pm Men's team 6:30 pm

Saturday, January 12

Mixed doubles 9:00 am Women's team 1:30 pm Men's team 6:30 pm

Sunday, January 13

Skins 1:00 pm Skins 5:00 pm

Statistics

The statistics for team play, including team skins play, are listed below. The percentages are calculated for each player by rating their shots in each game. Each shot the player attempts is scored out of four based on how well the shot is made.

Player percentages

Men

Women

Team percentages

Men

Women

Perfect games

Women

References

Specific

General

External links

* {{2012–13 curling season

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Continental Cup Continental Cup of Curling, 2013 Curling in British Columbia

Continental Cup of Curling The Continental Cup is a curling tournament held annually between teams from North America (sometimes just Canada) against teams from the rest of the World (sometimes just Europe). Each side is represented by six teams (three women's teams and thr ...