It was an easy road to the finals of the Canada Cup of Curling for some, and a battle for others.

Kevin Martin had a 6-0 record, and Chelsea Carey had a 5-1 record, which earned them both a bye into the final game, while Glenn Howard had to face down reigning world champion Jeff Stoughton, and Jennifer Jones challenged Shannon Kleibrink, in the semi-finals.

Howard went 4-2 in the round robin, losing to the eventual champion, Kevin Martin, along with an upset loss to Steve Laycock, while Stoughton had the same record, losing to both Howard and Martin.

In the semi-final on Saturday night, Howard took a deuce in the first end, but Stoughton came back with a single in the following end. Both teams traded singles over the next four ends, but Howard broke it open in the seventh, scoring a triple, aided by knocking out a stone which Stoughton had frozen to the button.

Both teams traded deuces over the final two ends, which resulted in a 9-5 score, vaulting Howard into the final against Martin.

"Who are we playing in the final again? An unknown guy; battle of the baldies," joked Howard, after his semi-final win against Stoughton on Saturday night.

An obviously disappointed Stoughton said his team played a good tournament, even though they lost to Martin and Howard in the round robin.

"We played great against Kevin [Martin] and we played a mediocre game against Glenn [Howard] but you know, we still had a shot to win, which was surprising to us; our heads weren't that into the game because we knew we couldn't get first place," said Stoughton, of his Friday night round-robin loss to Howard.

Jones, who finished with a 3-3 record, had to fight through Shannon Kleibrink to reach the final against Chelsea Carey and her team.

Kleibrink rolled into her semi-final with a 5-1 record; had Jones lost her last round-robin game against Amber Holland, it would've triggered a few tiebreakers on the women's side.

Jones opened by stealing a deuce, while Kleibrink answered with a single in the following end. After two blanked ends, Jones singled, with the hammer in the fifth end, and stole another point in the sixth. Kleibrink responded with a single of her own, but Jones took another point and another steal for one, and while Kleibrink notched a point in the tenth end, it didn't matter.

"It doesn't usually really matter where you end up at the end of the round robin as long as you get your foot into the door," said Jones, after the win over Kleibrink on Saturday. "We were happy to get that foot in the door, kind of took the hard way but now we're in and we just got to try and play our best tomorrow [Sunday] and see what happens."

Jones went on to beat Chelsea Carey in the final event on Sunday to take the Canada Cup title, but it was Carey who bested Jones on Friday in one of the round-robin games.

"We haven't beat them very much over the last few years so it feels good to pull one out," said Carey, on Friday after her victory. "We felt like we were due; they beat us probably five times and we beat them once, I think."

Carey said that her team's record, good enough to earn a bye into the final, was something to be proud of, even though she admitted that taking a road through the semi's is almost more preferable because it keeps team in game-shape.

That sharpness from playing a semi-final seemed to be the edge for Jones, but Carey added that winning a final can come down to a few lucky breaks.

"All you can do is make the final and hope it's your day so we feel like we just keep playing like the way we're playing, keep throwing them up and down and whatever happens, we've had a great week," she added.

Carey went on to lose by a 9-4 score to fellow Manitoban Jones in a Sunday final rematch.

The field of curlers was incredibly tough, as many of them have racked up quite a few accolades. Martin is a two-time Olympian-silver in 2002 and gold in 2010; Howard is a three-time World Champion, three-time Tim Horton's Briers Champion and was the defending Canada Cup champion.

Jeff Stoughton is the reigning World Champion and three-time Briers Champion; Kevin Koe is also a former Canada Cup champion.

On the women's side, Jones is a four-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts Champion and past World Champion; Kleibrink is a Olympic bronze medalist from 2006; Amber Holland is the reigning Scotties champion, Stefanie Lawton was the defending Canada Cup champion, and Heather Nedohin, before she skipped her own team, won the Scotties with Cathy King at the helm.

For some, the round robin didn't produce the desired standings, as teams fronted by Brad Jacobs and Steve Laycock only came away with one win in six games, while Rachel Homan, Holland, Lawton and Nedohin lost four of their six games.

The Jacobs rink ended their round-robin action with a dramatic 11-4 win over Team Laycock on Friday afternoon, notching five points within the first two ends and never looking back.

"We didn't want to come here and not win a game," said Jacobs, 26, who hails from Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario. "...Definitely this week was a big learning curve for us. This was the first time we've been to the Canada Cup and [it was] a big learning experience. We were just on the wrong side of the inch in a lot of those games. It was one or two shots here and there and the games could've gone in our favour, but they didn't and that's the way it goes sometimes."