Koe advances to quarterfinals with 5-2 win over McEwen at Champions Cup

Calgary’s Kevin Koe is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup after a 5-2 win over Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen on Friday.

After back-and-forth action in the first four, Koe, who was the runner-up at the 2017 event, scored two points to take the lead in the sixth end of late-draw action at WinSport Arena.

The recently crowned Players’ champion added a steal to stretch his lead to three in the seventh end.

The Calgary rink finished preliminary play with a 3-1 record and will face Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher (3-1) on Saturday. McEwen (2-2) takes on Saskatoon’s Colton Flasch in a tiebreaker after he upset world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden 5-3 earlier Friday.

In other men’s draw action, Brad Gushue (4-0) of St. John’s, N.L., locked up the top seed of the playoffs with a 7-3 win over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers.

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Defending champion Brad Jacobs (2-2) of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., downed Tyler Tardi’s rink from Langley, B.C., 9-0.

The Olympic gold medallist will take on Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson in the second tiebreaker.

Glenn Howard (3-1) of Tiny, Ont., Bruce Mouat (4-0) of Edinburgh, Scotland and Greg Persinger (2-2) of Seattle, Wash. nailed down the final playoff spots.

On the women’s side, Calgary’s Chelsea Carey (3-1) advanced to the quarters after downing Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 7-6.

Carey will face Kerri Einarson’s rink from from Winnipeg (3-1), which qualified for the elimination round with a 7-4 win over Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (2-2).

In tiebreakers, defending champ Rachel Homan (2-2) of Ottawa stayed alive with an 8-7 win over Switzerland’s Alina Paetz.

Edmonton’s Val Sweeting ousted Delia DeJong of Grande Prairie, Alta., 4-3 and advanced to a second tiebreaker against Jones.

Muirhead, along with American Jamie Sinclair, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni already booked tickets to the playoffs.

The quarterfinals begin Saturday and the finals are set for Sunday.

The competition is the final stop on the Grand Slam circuit this season.

The Canadian Press