Martin wins another battle of Alberta April 19, 2008 When it comes to men's curling, Alberta is a hot spot. The province boasts three of the country's top skips — Team Randy Ferbey, Team Kevin Koe, and recently crowned world champions Team Kevin Martin. Martin has been red-hot this season, running the table with a perfect 13-0 record at the Tim Hortons Brier, followed up by a great showing at the world championship where he claimed his first ever world title. Martin has already taken down one of his provincial rivals this week, when he defeated Kevin Koe with a score of 5-3. Tonight, Martin goes up against the other Alberta powerhouse: Team Ferbey.

Photo by Brent Hayden

After winning the pre-game draw to the button, Martin started with the hammer and got off to a strong start with a score of two points to open the game. Martin again posted some points in the second end, where he stole another one.

The third end saw Ferbey up against the ropes. Martin had a bunch of rocks near the back of the button. Ferbey managed to turn things around by freezing a couple of his own rocks onto Martins. But all that changed with a single shot, as Martin made an incredible double take-out with his final stone of the end to leave David Nedohin, who throws skip stones for Ferbey's team, nothing but a draw to the button to take a single point. Nedohin made the shot perfect to finally get some points on the board for Team Ferbey.

After Ferbey stole another one in the fourth end, Kevin Martin was looking to set up a big end. Facing three Martin rocks, Nedohin drew down to freeze onto Martin's shot stone. Martin followed him down to sit on the button and take his single point, extending his lead to 4-2.

The sixth end once again saw Kevin Martin continue the agressive play. Martin had three rocks in the house, when Randy Ferbey played a nice hit and roll to remove shot stone and roll partially behind cover to be shot. But being partially burried isn't good enough when you're playing against Kevin Martin. Martin picked the rock out cleanly to once again lie first and second shot. The lane was still wide open for David Nedohin to draw in to get his single point, which he made perfectly to pull within one.

In the seventh end, Ben Hebert of team Kevin Martin took a huge spill while sweeping one of Marc Kennedy's stones, falling on the rock and burning it. The crowd enjoyed a laugh at the incident after seeing that Hebert (aside from a bit of pride) was unhurt. With the end shaping up quite nicely for team Ferbey, John Morris made a great triple take-out to cut down Ferbey's offense. Kevin Martin then drew down to the face of shot stone to further diffuse Ferbey's chance at the steal. But Martin didn't have quite enough steam on his final shot, so Ferbey evened the game up at 4-4.

In the eighth, Martin was looking to keep the house clean in hopes to having an easy draw with his last stone for the win. The strategy started off well in the end as Ben Hebert made up with his burnt stone by playing a perfect tick-shot on one of Ferbey's gaurds, pushing it just centimeters from the side bumper and rendering it useless to Ferbey. Ferbey continued to play guards, and Martin's team continued to remove them. This continued until David Nedohin's last stone, where he drew right to the center-line in the twelve-foot. With the whole eigth-foot to shoot at, Kevin Martin made the draw to grab the point and the win 5-4, advancing him to the semi-finals.

Martin is not finish with his Alberta rivals just yet. He now advances to the semi-finals for another game against Kevin Koe, who also won tonight in his quarter final matchup against Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk.

Other winners from this draw were Glenn Howard who beat Greg McAulay 8-2, and Pat Simmons who downed Wayne Middaugh in six ends with a score of 7-2. Simmons and Howard will be the other semi-final matchup tomorrow.