World Financial Group sponsored the fan favourite TSN Curling Skins Game this weekend, Jan. 7-8, from Casino Rama in Rama, ON. The annual invitational event featured four of the best curling teams in the world — current world champion Jeff Stoughton, along with Kevin Martin, Kevin Koe and Glenn Howard —  skips of the last four Canadian teams to win world championships — competing for a $75,000 (CD) prize. The competition is a single-elimination format in which anything can happen, as the winner is decided by total prize money and not total points. 

Alberta’s top curlers, Martin and Koe faced off in the opening draw on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 1 p.m.. Koe won the world championship in 2010.  Martin, one of Canada’s most accomplished curlers, won the world championship in 2008 along with winning the Olympic Gold Medal in 2010. Considered one of the world’s best skins players, Martin is the defending TSN Curling Skins Game champion and has earned a total of $412,150 playing in previous TSN skins games – an all-time record.

In a rematch of last year's Tim Horton’s Brier final, Manitoba's Stoughton took on Ontario's Howard in the prime time, 8 p.m. draw on Saturday. 2011 world champion Stoughton also won the world championship in 1996 while Howard won the 2007 world championship.

Casino Rama once again built a curling rink exclusively for this event in its 5,000-seat world-class Entertainment Centre. Hans Wuthrich, renowned icemaker for the Tournament of Hearts, Brier and World Championships, and head technician of the curling sheets at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, was brought in to ensure the playing surface meets Canadian Curling Association (CCA) standards.

In the final, it was Koe versus Stoughton. And in his first TSN skins game win, Koe was the victor with the final score of 5-2.

To learn more about WFG, go to www.wfgopportunity.ca.