by Martin Gavin, special to Northern News Services
Kevin Koe has now positioned himself one win from for a front row seat at the lighting of the Olympic flame in PyeongChang, South Korea in February.
“We actually haven’t been playing as well as we can play, we can play better but we are finding a way to win,” said Koe upon clinching the finals berth on Dec. 7. “There is still a lot of work to do (and) we haven’t won anything yet.”
MIchael Burns/Curling Canada photo
The Calgary-based team got off to a bumpy start at the event and squeaked out a couple wins in games that could have easily gone to the other way.
Following his come-from-behind victory against Jacobs, the team gathered momentum, snapping off five more consecutive wins and a strangle hold on first place.
“It may very well be Koe’s week” said Russ Howard, 2006 Olympic champion and TSN analyst. “Early in the week, they were getting the breaks and now they are rolling and don’t need breaks.”
Koe’s main rival will now be Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador, the reigning men's world champion. Gushue qualified for the world championship earlier this year by knocking off Koe in the Brier final.
“We kind of owe them for that one,” said Marc Kennedy, Koe's third.
These two teams were set to face off in the last game of the round-robin on Dec. 8 in which a victory by Koe may possibly have eliminated Gushue from the playoffs at the Olympic trials.
Kevin will play for his Olympic berth on Dec. 10.