2001 Players' Championship
The 2001 Husky WCT Players' Championship, the championship of the men's World Curling Tour for the 2000-01 curling season was held March 21–25, 2001 at the Calgary Curling Club in Calgary, Alberta. The total purse for the event was $150,000 with $40,000 going to the winning team. The top Canadian team received a berth into the 2001 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.[1]
| 2001 Husky WCT Players' Championship | |
|---|---|
| Host city | Calgary, Alberta |
| Arena | Calgary Curling Club |
| Dates | March 21–25 |
| Winner |  Team Middaugh |
| Curling club | St. George's G&CC |
| Skip | Wayne Middaugh |
| Third | Graeme McCarrel |
| Second | Ian Tetley |
| Lead | Scott Bailey |
| Finalist |  Kevin Martin |
« 2000 2002 » | |
Wayne Middaugh of Ontario defeated Kevin Martin of Alberta in the final, 10–5. Middaugh made a triple take out in the first end to go up 3–0. In the second end, Martin ticked a guard on his final shot, which was an attempted hit for two. The miss gave Middaugh a steal of one to go up 4–0.[2] Martin got one the scoreboard with a single in the third, but missed a draw attempt in the fourth, allowing Middaugh to make a tap for three to go up 7–1.[3] That put the game out of reach for Martin, as Middaugh played a peel game to protect the lead.
As the two finalist teams had already qualified for the Olympic Trials, the berth went to the winner of a special third place playoff between Russ Howard of New Brunswick and Peter Corner of Ontario. Howard won that game 7–3.[4]
The event was the last Players' Championship to be held before the creation of the Grand Slam of Curling, which included the Players' as one of its events.
Teams
The event featured the top 20 Canadian money earners on the World Curling Tour, the top two European earners, and the top American team, along with a sponsors exemption (Vic Peters). Kerry Burtnyk, Kevin Park[6] and Randy Ferbey elected to not participate (Team Ferbey was preparing for the 2001 World Men's Curling Championship). John Morris, Greg McAulay, Jeff Stoughton, Bert Gretzinger, Wayne Middaugh and Kevin Martin had already qualified for the Olympic Trials.[7]
The teams were as follows:[8]
Round robin standings
The top two teams in each pool advanced to the playoffs.
Final round robin standings[12]
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Teams to Playoffs | |
| Teams to Tiebreakers | |
|
|
|
|
Scores
Scores were as follows:[13]
Draw 1
- Middaugh 7, Brewster 4
- Stoughton 10, Werthemann 4
- McMullan 8, Derbowka 5
- Brown 9, R. Howard 5
- G. Howard 10, Lyburn 2
- Climenhaga 8, Boehmer 6
Draw 2
- Peters 7, Hemmings 1
- McAulay 6, Despins 2
- Korte 5, Kirkness 2
- Martin 7, Patterson 2
- Morris 7, Corner 2
- Gretzinger 6, Ewen 5
Draw 3
- Climenhaga 6, G. Howard 5
- Derbowka 8, Middaugh 2
- Werthemann 9, Brewster 7
- Stoughton 5, McMullan 3
- Boehmer 7, R. Howard 6
- Brown 5, Lyburn 4
Draw 4
- Gretzinger 7, Morris 2
- Team Hemmings 6, Korte 3
- McAulay 9, Peters 2
- Despins 7, Kirkness 3
- Martin 6, Ewen 2
- Corner 6, Patterson 4
Draw 5
- Corner 10, Ewen 9
- Morris 5, Patterson 1
- Team Hemmings 8, Kirkness 4
- Korte 8, McAulay 6
- Despins 5, Peters 2
- Martin 7, Gretzinger 5
Draw 6
- Lyburn 6, Boehmer 3
- G. Howard 6, Brown 3
- Middaugh 9, McMullan 3
- Derbowka 9, Werthemann 2
- Brewster 8, Stoughton 7
- R. Howard 7, Climenhaga 5
Draw 7
- Martin 8, Morris 6
- Corner 8, Gretzinger 4
- Patterson 9, Ewen 6
- Team Hemmings 8, Despins 6
- McAulay 10, Kirkness 3
- Korte 6, Peters 4
Draw 8
- R. Howard 10, G. Howard 8
- Climenhaga 7, Lyburn 3
- Boehmer 9, Brown 5
- Middaugh 6, Stoughton 5
- McMullan 9, Werthemann 5
- Brewster 4, Derbowka 3
Draw 9
- Stoughton 8, Derbowka 2
- Brewster 8, McMullan 7
- R. Howard 9, Lyburn 4
- G. Howard 7, Boehmer 6
- Climenhaga 7, Brown 6
- Middaugh 6, Werthemann 1
Draw 10
- McAulay 7, Team Hemmings 2
- Korte 8, Despins 6
- Peters 9, Kirkness 6
- Corner 6, Martin 4
- Ewen 5, Morris 4
- Gretzinger 7, Patterson 6
Tiebreakers
- Stoughton 5, Brewster 4
- R. Howard 8, G. Howard 6
Playoffs
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wayne Middaugh |
7 | |||||||||||
| 8 | David Climenhaga |
3 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wayne Middaugh |
6 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Peter Corner |
3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Peter Corner |
5 | |||||||||||
| 5 |  Greg McAulay |
4 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wayne Middaugh |
10 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Kevin Martin |
5 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Kevin Martin |
8 | |||||||||||
| 5 |  Jeff Stoughton |
2 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Kevin Martin |
8 | Third place | ||||||||||
| 2 |  Russ Howard |
7 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Russ Howard |
8 | 2 | Russ Howard |
7 | ||||||||
| 7 |  Bruce Korte |
5 | 4 | Peter Corner |
3 | ||||||||
Notes
- Team not listed in source. Roster as of Jan 2001.[9]
- Sparing for Guy Hemmings, who could not play due to a new job in France[10]
- Teams are seeded by their money-winnings
References
- "In the hack..." Calgary Herald. March 21, 2001. p. 55. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "It's Wayne's world, again". Calgary Herald. March 26, 2001. p. 41. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Martin... Viewers Reach for Remotes". Calgary Herald. March 26, 2001. p. 41. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Howard snags Oly berth". Winnipeg Sun. March 26, 2001. p. 30. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Curlers insist future glows". Calgary Herald. March 24, 2001. p. 67. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Despins has sights set on Olympic trials". Regina Leader-Post. March 21, 2001. p. 14. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Peters taking run at Olympic glory". Regina Leader-Post. March 22, 2001. p. 14. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Husky WCT Players' Championship -- Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Extra ends". Edmonton Journal. January 15, 2001. p. 42. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "A last-minute opportunity pays off for Edmonton skip". Calgary Herald. March 24, 2001. p. 67. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Werthemann cashing in on Europe circuit". Calgary Herald. March 22, 2001. p. 46. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Curling". Calgary Herald. March 24, 2001. p. 69. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- "Husky WCT Players' Championship -- Round Robin". CurlingZone. Retrieved April 15, 2022.