2014 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Host city | Paradise, Nevada[1][2][3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arena | Orleans Arena | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dates | January 16–19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 51,215 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Winner | Team North America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2014 Continental Cup of Curling was held from January 16 to 19 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas. This edition of the Continental Cup of Curling, sponsored by World Financial Group, was the first held outside of Canada. The Continental Cup, based on the Ryder Cup of golf, pits teams from North America against teams from the rest of the World. The tournament featured team events, mixed doubles events, singles competitions, and skins competitions, and the brunt of available points was awarded in the skins competitions. TSN broadcast the event, as it has in previous years.
Team North America was represented by Canada Cup champion Jeff Stoughton, Tournament of Hearts champion Rachel Homan, Canadian Olympic Trials champions Jennifer Jones and Brad Jacobs, and the United States' Olympic Trials champions Erika Brown and John Shuster. Team World was represented by reigning women's world champion Eve Muirhead, two-time world silver medalist Margaretha Sigfridsson, Japanese women's national champion Satsuki Fujisawa, reigning men's world champion Niklas Edin, two-time world champion David Murdoch, and two-time European champion Thomas Ulsrud.
Team North America became the first team to win back-to-back titles. Team World and Team North America were square at the beginning of the event. Team North America built a three-point lead with wins in the team games, but Team World turned the tables on Team North America in the singles competition, taking the lead with a dominant performance. Team North America regained their lead with successive wins in the remaining team and mixed doubles games. Team World cut their lead by two points after the first round of skins games, but Team North America dominated the second round of skins play to clinch the cup, extending their overall record to 6–4.
The event was well attended and broke the attendance record of 42,317 set at the 2004 Continental Cup of Curling in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was the second most attended curling event ever in the United States, behind the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota. However, most of the fans had flown in from Canada.