# 2004 The National

2004 The National, the third annual edition of The National Grand Slam curling event was held January 22–25, 2004 at the Prince Albert Communiplex in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The total purse of the event was $100,000. It was the third of four (men's) PharmAssist Grand Slam events of the 2003-04 curling season.
Glenn Howard, and his rink of Richard Hart, Collin Mitchell and Jason Mitchell from Coldwater, Ontario, won the event, defeating Jeff Stoughton from Winnipeg 5–3. With the win, Team Howard took home $30,000, while Stoughton won $18,000. Howard stole deuces in the first and fifth ends en route to the victory. Team Stoughton had been undefeated at the event up to that point, including defeating Howard 7–2 in the A final. Going into the event, Howard's foursome was ranked 10th on the World Curling Tour money standings, and Stoughton was ranked second. The number 1 ranked Wayne Middaugh rink lost in the third place game to Kerry Burtnyk.
Five of the top 13 teams (Kevin Martin, John Morris, Jamie King, Randy Ferbey and Jamie Koe) on the Tour opted to not play in the event, as it conflicted with the playdowns for the Alberta men's championships.
The event featured a special rule called the "Howard Rule", in which the first four rocks of each end could not be removed, even if they were in the rings.

## Teams

The teams were as follows:
| Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Locale |
| Greg Balsdon | Adam Spencer | Don Bowser | Robert Dickson | Toronto |
| Dave Boehmer | Pat Spring | Richard Daneault | Don Harvey | Petersfield, Manitoba |
| Kerry Burtnyk | Ken Tresoor | Rob Fowler | Keith Fenton | Winnipeg |
| Glen Despins | Rod Montgomery | Phillip Germain | Dwayne Mihalicz | Regina |
| Brad Heidt | Arnie Geisler | Mike Jantzen | Steve Laycock | Kerrobert, Saskatchewan |
| Guy Hemmings | Martin Ferland | Dale Ness | Pierre Charette | Saint-Aimé, Quebec |
| Glenn Howard | Richard Hart | Collin Mitchell | Jason Mitchell | Coldwater, Ontario |
| Wes Johnson | Leon Romaniuk | Greg Romaniuk | Tom Violette | Seattle |
| Bruce Korte | Client Dieno | Roger Korte | Rory Golanowski | Saskatoon |
| Lee Dong-keun | Park Jae-cheol | Ko Seung-wan | Choi Min-suk | Gyeongbuk, South Korea |
| Heath McCormick | Brent Laing | Craig Savill | Shaun Harris | Sarnia, Ontario |
| Wayne Middaugh | Graeme McCarrel | Joe Frans | Scott Bailey | Midland, Ontario |
| Kevin Park | Shane Park | Scott Park | Kerry Park | Edmonton |
| Vic Peters | Ryan Fry | Chris Neufeld | Denni Neufeld | Winnipeg |
| Bryan Derbowka | Gerald Shymko (skip) | Gord Hardy | Steve Sobkow | Calder, Saskatchewan |
| Jeff Stoughton | Jon Mead | Garry Vandenberghe | Steve Gould | Winnipeg |

## Draw

The event was a triple knock out.

### Playoffs

The playoff scores were as follows:
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| Kerry Burtnyk | Kerry Burtnyk | 7 | | | | | | |
| Guy Hemmings | Guy Hemmings | 1 | | | | | | |
| Guy Hemmings | Guy Hemmings | 1 | Kerry Burtnyk | Kerry Burtnyk | 4 | | | |
| | | | Glenn Howard | Glenn Howard | 8 | | | |
| Glenn Howard | Glenn Howard | 10 | Glenn Howard | Glenn Howard | 8 | | | |
| Brad Heidt | Brad Heidt | 6 | | | | | | |
| Brad Heidt | Brad Heidt | 6 | | | | Glenn Howard | Glenn Howard | 5 |
| | | | | | | Jeff Stoughton | Jeff Stoughton | 3 |
| Jeff Stoughton | Jeff Stoughton | 5 | | | | | | | Jeff Stoughton | Jeff Stoughton | 3 |
| Kevin Park | Kevin Park | 4 | | | |
| Kevin Park | Kevin Park | 4 | Jeff Stoughton | Jeff Stoughton | 7 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | Wayne Middaugh | Wayne Middaugh | 4 |
| Wayne Middaugh | Wayne Middaugh | 7 | Wayne Middaugh | Wayne Middaugh | 4 | Kerry Burtnyk | Kerry Burtnyk | 6 |
| Vic Peters | Vic Peters | 4 | | | | Wayne Middaugh | Wayne Middaugh | 3 |