2012 Players' Championship: Thursday

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – Heather Nedohin has the Canadian Olympic trials berth in her sights, and Cathy O is Five-And-Oh.

The $370,000 Sun Life Financial Players' Championship is in full roar at Credit Union Place, and as the final major of the 2011-12 curling season, the excitement is holding its own against warm weather and NHL hockey playoffs.

Cathy Overton-Clapham of Winnipeg improved her leading women's record to 5-0 with a 4-3 win over hard-luck Chelsea Carey. Three extra-end losses on Wednesday, coupled with the last-rock loss to Overton-Clapham has made this a tough week for the Morden, Man. skip who dropped to 0-5. With her last stone of the match, Overton-Clapham had shot stone buried behind a guard, and Carey's final throw slid a foot too heavy.

Nedohin, of Edmonton, moved to 2-2 with a 7-6 extra-end win over Stefanie Lawton (3-2) of Saskatoon, and the match was a humdinger. Lawton stole the first end when Nedohin missed a double-takeout, and then the Edmonton foursome scored with a two-point draw in the second when Lawton’s tap attempt overcurled, exposing the four-foot rings.

After trading singles, Lawton scored a deuce of her own for a 4-3 lead. The sixth end proved to be huge, as Nedohin scored three: Lawton’s last rock was heavy and bounced off two Nedohin stones in the back of the four-foot, leaving the Edmonton skip a hit for the 6-4 lead.

Lawton scored a single in the seventh end, and then stole the tying point in the eighth end when Nedohin only removed one stone on her last-shot double to win. However, the STOH champions made a brilliant draw to the button on their last stone to win the game in the extra frame.

Nedohin needs to reach the semi-finals to clinch a berth into the 2013 Canadian Olympic Trials. If Sherry Middaugh (Coldwater, Ont.) is to snatch the berth, she needs a) to win the Sun Life Financial Players’ Championship and b) Nedohin to miss the playoffs.

Middaugh didn't help her cause and dropped to a 2-2 won/loss record after losing her Thursday morning game to Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones (3-2) by an 8-4 count.

Jones gave up a steal in the first end when her draw crashed on a guard in front of the house, but responded with a runback for two in the second end. Jones stole another point in the third end when Middaugh, who was facing multiple points on her last stone, was forced to make a draw to concede one.

After getting two back in the fourth end with a draw, the critical blow for Middaugh came in the sixth when Jones notched a deuce to take a 5-3 lead.

In the other early morning women's match, Silvana Tirinzoni (3-2) of Switzerland came from behind to to beat Scotland's Eve Muirhead by a 9-7 count. It's been a miserable week for the 1-4 Scots – Tirinzoni stole a pair in an extra-end for the victory.

Meanwhile, the men are slowly but surely catching up to the women in number of games played. In the second of four Thursday draws, Kevin Martin (3-0) of Edmonton won the battle of Olympic golden boys with a 4-2 result over Brad Gushue (1-2) of St. John’s; Mike McEwen defeated fellow Winnipegger Jeff Stoughton by a 4-3 scoreline (both are now 1-2) and Kevin Koe (2-1) of Edmonton earned a 6-3 win over the winless Team Niklas Edin (skipped this week by new Brunwick's James Grattan).

In the fourth men’s matchup, John Epping of Toronto scored a major upset victory – by a 6-3 count – over provincial rival and world champion Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont. Both squads are now at 2-1.

Howard's son Scott, who served as alternate on his father's world championship squad two weeks ago in Basel, Switzerland, plays second for Team Epping.

The elder Howard struggled early, and came up short on a draw in the first end against one Epping stone. Things took a strange turn for the worst two ends later, as Howard third Wayne Middaugh missed a takeout after falling in his delivery, which was followed by a Howard miss. The bizarre scenario resulted in a steal of two points for a 3-0 Epping lead.

Other highlight matches today will see Jones take on Muirhead (3:00pm eastern time), McEwen face off against Gushue (6:30pm ET) and a battle between the last two world champions, 2011's Stoughton and new kingpin Howard (also at 6:30pm ET).

In other Players’ news, our friends at CurlingZone have hogtied a couple of video cameras to the statistician’s desk, and this means that rabid curling fans can check out the on-ice action from both the home end and also the away end. It’s anything but fancy, but it just might satisfy those too impatient to wait for the weekend finals on Global TV.

And that's not all, folks: the Players’ Championship will also host the Capital One Junior Draw to the Button contest, which involves local youth curlers, as well as the popular Capital One Million Dollar Button... in which even semifinalists will compete for the chance – and only one person will get that chance – to draw to the button and win big.

How big? How about $1 million?

But how did these contest winners make it to Summerside, you ask? Heres' the scoop: three qualified from the previous Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events: the World Cup of Curling in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., the Canadian Open in Kingston, Ont., and The National in Dawson Creek, BC. Three additional names were drawn from online entries on the contest website (at milliondollarbutton.ca). And the seventh and final entrant will be declared here in Summerside in the next few hours.

And who are the six MDB contestants to date? Here they are:

• Beth Tretreault of Thessalon, Ont. (World Cup qualifier)

• Bill McCormick of Kingston, Ont. (Canadian Open qualifier)

• Shannon Anderson of Dawson Creek, BC (The National qualifier)

• Michael Laird of Edmonton (online qualifier)

• Dan Robichaud of Saint John, NB (online qualifier)

• Emilia Borrrelli of Edmonton (online qualifier)

Best of luck, everyone!

Capital One photos copyright by Anil Mungal – click on images to increase viewing size