2001 Players' Championship

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 »

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]

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.

The semifinals and finals were aired on Global TV.^[5]

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]

Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Locale	Season earnings to date ($CA)[1]
Dave Boehmer	Brent Braemer	Terry McRae	Mike Pohl	Winnipeg, Manitoba	$22,500
Tom Brewster	Graeme Connal	Ron Brewster	Mark Brass	Howwood, Scotland	$16,161
Craig Brown	Ryan Quinn	Jon Brunt	John Dunlop	Madison, Wisconsin	$16,250
David Climenhaga[a]	John Climenhaga	Kent Stannard	Brad Kucek	Edmonton, Alberta	$20,000
Peter Corner	Pierre Charette	Todd Brandwood	Scott Foster	Hamilton, Ontario	$35,975
Bryan Derbowka	Dean Klippenstine	Jeff Sharp	Ryan MacGregor	Yorkton, Saskatchewan	$22,750
Glen Despins	Art Paulsen	Dwayne Mihalicz	Phillip Germain	Strongfield, Saskatchewan	$29,050
Rob Ewen	Gerry Adam	Michael Vereschagin	Ken Ewen	Jansen, Saskatchewan	$21,000
Bert Gretzinger	Bob Ursel	Mark Whittle	Dave Mellof	Kelowna, British Columbia	$25,000
Dale Duguid[b]	Don Westphal	Guy Thibaudeau	Dale Ness	Saint-Lambert, Quebec	$40,000
Glenn Howard	Richard Hart	Collin Mitchell	Jason Mitchell	MacTier, Ontario	$29,200
Russ Howard	James Grattan	Rick Perron	Grant Odishaw	Moncton, New Brunswick	$49,350
James Kirkness	Travis Graham	Chris Galbraith	A. J. Girardin	Winnipeg, Manitoba	$23,825
Bruce Korte	Darrell McKee	Roger Korte	Rory Golanowski	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	$21,150
Allan Lyburn	Rob Fowler	Mark Taylor	Ross Granger	Brandon, Manitoba	$32,275
Kevin Martin	Don Walchuk	Carter Rycroft	Don Bartlett	Edmonton, Alberta	$36,250
Greg McAulay	Brent Pierce	Bryan Miki	Jody Sveistrup	New Westminster, British Columbia	$34,801
Chad McMullan	Ken Tresoor	Ryan Fry	Jeff Steski	Winnipeg, Manitoba	$22,952
Wayne Middaugh	Graeme McCarrel	Ian Tetley	Scott Bailey	Victoria Harbour, Ontario	$61,950
John Morris	Joe Frans	Craig Savill	Brent Laing	Waterloo, Ontario	$27,700
Scott Patterson	Greg Cantin	John McClelland	Phil Loevenmark	North Bay, Ontario	$20,575
Vic Peters	Dave Smith	Chris Neufeld	Don Harvey	Winnipeg, Manitoba	$19,825
Jeff Stoughton	Jon Mead	Garry Vandenberghe	Doug Armstrong	Winnipeg, Manitoba	$29,400
Bernhard Werthemann[11]	Raphael Brütsch	Thomas Lips	Phillip Raspe	Basel, Switzerland	$29,762

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

Pool A W L Wayne Middaugh 4 1 Jeff Stoughton 3 2 Tom Brewster 3 2 Bryan Derbowka 2 3 Chad McMullan 2 3 Bernhard Werthemann 1 4

Pool B W L David Climenhaga 4 1 Russ Howard 3 2 Glenn Howard 3 2 Craig Brown 2 3 Dave Boehmer 2 3 Allan Lyburn 1 4

Pool C W L Greg McAulay 4 1 Bruce Korte 4 1 Team Hemmings 3 2 Glen Despins 2 3 Vic Peters 2 3 James Kirkness 0 5

Pool D W L Kevin Martin 4 1 Peter Corner 4 1 Bert Gretzinger 3 2 John Morris 2 3 Scott Patterson 1 4 Rob Ewen 1 4

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

^[c]

	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			Trials berth
						2	Russ Howard	7
	2	Russ Howard	8								2	Russ Howard	7
	7	Bruce Korte	5								4	Peter Corner	3

Notes

1. Team not listed in source. Roster as of Jan 2001.^[9]
2. Sparing for Guy Hemmings, who could not play due to a new job in France^[10]
3. Teams are seeded by their money-winnings

References

1. "In the hack..." Calgary Herald. March 21, 2001. p. 55. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
2. "It's Wayne's world, again". Calgary Herald. March 26, 2001. p. 41. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
3. "Martin... Viewers Reach for Remotes". Calgary Herald. March 26, 2001. p. 41. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
4. "Howard snags Oly berth". Winnipeg Sun. March 26, 2001. p. 30. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
5. "Curlers insist future glows". Calgary Herald. March 24, 2001. p. 67. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
6. "Despins has sights set on Olympic trials". Regina Leader-Post. March 21, 2001. p. 14. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
7. "Peters taking run at Olympic glory". Regina Leader-Post. March 22, 2001. p. 14. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
8. "Husky WCT Players' Championship -- Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
9. "Extra ends". Edmonton Journal. January 15, 2001. p. 42. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
10. "A last-minute opportunity pays off for Edmonton skip". Calgary Herald. March 24, 2001. p. 67. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
11. "Werthemann cashing in on Europe circuit". Calgary Herald. March 22, 2001. p. 46. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
12. "Curling". Calgary Herald. March 24, 2001. p. 69. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
13. "Husky WCT Players' Championship -- Round Robin". CurlingZone. Retrieved April 15, 2022.