Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975 ) is a Canadian curler. Originally from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, he now resides in Grande Prairie, Alberta and curls out of Edmonton, Alberta. He is the skip of the current Canadian and World champion team.

He skipped his Yukon/Northwest Territories team to the final of the 1994 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. The team lost the final to Alberta's Colin Davison amidst a controversy involving a burnt rock.

Koe would later leave Yellowknife, to curl in the more competitive province of Alberta. In 2000, he skipped Alberta to a Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. From 2004 to 2006 he played third for John Morris. He currently skips his own team.

Up until 2010, Koe has had little success in his attempts to win a provincial title on the men's stage. His team is currently regarded as one of the best in the world, and while he has been in many Grand Slam finals, he has never actually won a Slam event as a skip. In 2007, he almost went to the Brier, but lost in the provincial finals to Kevin Martin. In both the 10th and 11th ends, his team's former fourth player, Blake MacDonald had an easy draw to the eight-foot to win, but missed on both opportunities. In 2010, Koe finally won a provincial championship, benefiting from an absent Martin who would be preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Koe went on to win the 2010 Brier, beating Ontario's Glenn Howard in the final. Koe's rink became the first team to come out of the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game to win the Brier, and he became the first rookie skip to win the Brier since Vic Peters in 1992. Koe finished with a 9-2 round robin record at the 2010 Capital One World Men's Curling Championship, finishing second behind Norway. However, in the playoffs, Koe beat Norway twice to claim his first world title.

His brother, Jamie Koe has represented the Territories in the last four of the last five Briers, while his sister Kerry has represented the Territories in five of the last six Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Grand Slam record

Key

Teams

External links

Category:Brier champions Category:Curlers from the Northwest Territories Category:Curlers from Alberta Category:People from Yellowknife Category:Gwich'in people Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:People from Grande Prairie Category:People from Edmonton Category:World curling champions

Glenn Howard (born July 17, 1962 in Midland, Ontario) is a Canadian curler from Penetanguishene, Ontario. He has won three Briers and three world championships in his career.

Howard had much of his success in his early career when he played third with his brother, Russ. With Russ, Howard won the 1987 and 1993 Labatt Brier's, and the world championships those same two years. However, Russ would move to New Brunswick in the late 1990s, leaving Glenn in Ontario to form his own team. Glenn would be unsuccessful in returning to the Brier, losing back-to-back provincial finals (2004, 2005) until 2006 when he would triumph over former teammate Wayne Middaugh in the Ontario final. This qualified him for the 2006 Tim Hortons Brier. His team of third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing, and lead Craig Savill dominated the 2006 Brier, finishing the round robin with only one loss. However, the team was not successful in the final, losing to Quebec's Jean-Michel Ménard 8–7.

Howard's team dominated the 2007 season. The team marched right through the provincial championships without losing a single game (none even going a complete ten ends). At the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier, the team lost just one round-robin game to Alberta's Kevin Martin. The team lost another in the Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game to Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador. However, in the re-match in the final, Howard beat Gushue 10–6. Howard's team continued its dominance at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. The team lost just one game in the round-robin to Team USA (skipped by Todd Birr). However, it avenged this loss by beating the Americans 7–2 in the Page playoff game and then winning the final over the Germans skipped by Andy Kapp 8–3.

In his attempt to repeat at the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier, Howard lost 5–4 in the final to Alberta, skipped by Kevin Martin.

Howard became only the second skip to win a career Grand Slam when he won the Canadian Open in 2009.

Howard again qualified for the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary. Many were looking forward to Howard's performance at the Brier. Firstly, his older brother Russ was skipping the New Brunswick team, and secondly, a re-match with the rival Kevin Martin team. Howard's rink finished the round robin in second place with a 9-2 record. His last match of the round robin was against Martin, as was the first playoff matchup. Both games Howard lost, but were widely considered two of the most entertaining games in curling history, due to the incredible shot making. Howard would lose his next playoff game as well, to Jeff Stoughton's Manitoba rink, disappointing those who wanted to see a third straight exciting Martin vs Howard show down. Despite all of this, Howard is probably most remembered at the 2009 Brier for one of the greatest shots in curling history. In a round robin match against Saskatchewan, Howard was down by two with his last shot of the game. He only had one shot to win the game. Howard was facing two Saskatchewan stones, which were too far apart and too even to take out both. Howard had three rocks in the 12 foot. With his rock, Howard knocked one of his rocks onto another of his rocks, deflecting into one of the Saskatchewan stones, removing it while sticking, while his shooter rock had ricocheted off the first Ontario rock onto the other Saskatchewan stone, taking it out as well, while sticking too. With those two Ontario rocks, plus the other one that remained stationary, Ontario scored three to win the game. (See video) The shot would even be mentioned by Chris Plys on The Colbert Report during a curling segment.

Howard clinched a spot at the 2009 Olympic Trials when he won the 2008 Tylenol Players' Championship, which was held in St. John's, Newfoundland. Howard finished the tournament with a perfect record and beat Kevin Martin in the final.

At the 2010 Brier, Howard finished the round robin with an undefeated 11–0 record, but lost in the Final to Alberta's Kevin Koe.

Howard works as a manager at The Beer Store. Howard made a guest appearance on the CBC comedy Little Mosque on the Prairie on the season 2 episode titled "Jihad on Ice".

Grand Slam record

Key

Teammates

References

Category:1962 births Category:Canadian Curling Hall of Fame inductees Category:Curlers from Ontario Category:Living people Category:People from Penetanguishene Category:World curling champions Category:Brier champions