Howard and Martin to play in finals April 20, 2008 It's the final day of the 2007-08 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling season. The day opened with draw ninteen: the men's semi-final. One sheet B, Glenn Howard was looking to advance against Pat Simmons. Sheet C saw yet another all-Alberta match-up with Kevin Martin taking on Kevin Koe. Kevin Martin has reached today's semi-final after rattling off four strait wins this week. His opening draw on Wednesday saw him handed a win by default after his opponent Martin Ferland missed his flight into St. John's. On Thursday Martin took down Greg McAulay, and on Friday he earned a win against fellow Albertan Kevin Koe. In the quarter-finals he was up against Randy Ferbey, and the win moved him into today's match.

Photo by Brent Hayden

Kevin Koe has also had a great week, with his only loss coming in yesterday's game against Martin. Koe earned a win over Reid Carruthers on Wednesday and beat rookie-of-the-year Mike McEwen on Thursday. After dropping a game to Martin on Friday morning, Koe rebounded with wins over Shawn Adams and then Kerry Burtnyk in the quarter-finals.

In today's semi-final action, Kevin Martin was first on the board. He got a single point in the first end, where he had the hammer. The second end saw Kevin Martin steal a point. The third end, Martin was looking for another steal. He froze right down onto Koe's rock which was sitting just behind the t-line. Martin froze perfectly, leaving Koe a tough hit and roll take-out to try and score two. But Koe hit the first rock too thickly and didn't roll hard enough to remove Martin's stone, giving up a second straight stolen end.

In the fourth, Martin was once again putting offensive pressure on Koe. The reigning world champion was sitting one rock right on the button behind cover, but Koe made a perfect run-back take-out to diffuse the situation. Despite Martin's strong offense, Koe finally got on the board in this one, with a little tap and roll to score one.

Kevin Martin made a very difficult double take-out in the fifth to blank the end, retaining hammer into the sixth. In the sixth, Martin kept the pressure coming. He was left with a double take-out which he made perfectly to pick up a huge three points. With a commanding 6-1 lead, Martin won the game after playing just six ends. This advances Martin to the finals.

Kevin Koe doesn't head home empty handed though. All semi-finalists grab a nice $11,000.

Over on sheet B, Pat Simmons and Glenn Howard were battling for the other spot in the finals. Glenn Howard started off with last rock advantage in this one. With that hammer, Howard scored just one point, giving the hammer to Simmons for the second end. Simmons answered back with a single point of his own to tie things up, only to have Howard inch ahead again with another one point end in the third. In the fourth end, Pat Simmons was facing three Howard rocks with his last rock. Simmons had a pretty straight foward tap-back to cancel out Howard's rocks and get the single point, tieing the game at 2-2. Howard attempted a tricky run-back with his last stone in the fifth end, but his rock overcurled, giving Pat Simmons a steal of one and his first lead of the game.

Photo by Brent Hayden

The momentum seemed to have switched hands after Howard's missed shot, as Pat Simmons' team completely dominated the sixth end. Simmons had first, second, third and fourth shot when reached skip stones in the end. Glenn Howard removed one but left this his shooter wide open for Simmons to get at. Howard got out of the end clean and picked up his one point to tie the game.

Howard was in trouble again in the seventh end. Simmons had a rock in the four-foot, completely covered by a wall of guards. With Glenn's first skip stone, he hit off his own rock in the twelve-foot to roll onto the button, perfectly frozen to Simmon's rock. Simmons bumped things around a little to open up the house, but missed on his last shot to give Howard a steal, putting Howard ahead 4-3.

Howard had one rock biting the button, with a load of guards blocking Simmon's path to them. Jeff Sharp, throwing third rocks for Simmons, cleared out a lot of the guards with his second stone of the end. With Howard's last rock of the end, he drew in to the side of the four-foot. Simmons tried a run back for the win, but his shooter rolled too far, and Glenn Howard picked up another steal and the win.

The advances Howard to the finals against Kevin Martin for what should be a remarkable rematch of this year's Brier final.