# 2001 Players' Championship

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.
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. 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. 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.
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.

## 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 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.
The teams were as follows:
| Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Locale | Season earnings to date ($CA) |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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
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:

### 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

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Wayne Middaugh | 7 | | | | | | |
| 8 | David Climenhaga | 3 | | | | | | |
| 8 | David Climenhaga | 3 | 1 | Wayne Middaugh | 6 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Peter Corner | 3 | | | |
| 4 | Peter Corner | 5 | 4 | Peter Corner | 3 | | | |
| 5 | Greg McAulay | 4 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Greg McAulay | 4 | | | | 1 | Wayne Middaugh | 10 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Kevin Martin | 5 |
| 3 | Kevin Martin | 8 | | | | | | | 3 | Kevin Martin | 5 |
| 5 | Jeff Stoughton | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Jeff Stoughton | 2 | 3 | Kevin Martin | 8 | Trials berth | Trials berth | Trials berth |
| | | | 2 | Russ Howard | 7 |
| 2 | Russ Howard | 8 | 2 | Russ Howard | 7 | 2 | Russ Howard | 7 |
| 7 | Bruce Korte | 5 | | | | 4 | Peter Corner | 3 |