EDMONTON - When the end comes, it's seldom pretty.

And when Kevin Park knocked Randy Ferbey out of the Edmonton-area men's curling playdowns, it was downright ugly.

Park took full advantage of whatever Ferbey gave him, scoring a 7-2 'C' event final shellacking of what once was the most dominant back end in the world.

After opening up with a threeender, Park put the game away with a four-ender in the third. It was hand-shaking time after four.

Ferbey could not recall the last time he was not in the mix of the Northern Alberta Curling Championship, but he figures it was just shy of 20 years ago.

"There's far greater tragedies in life than not getting to the northerns," Ferbey said. "At this moment, I'm not sure what they are."

The next scheduled event on Ferbey's calendar was the World Curling Tour's Grand Slam event in Dawson Creek, B.C., later this month. Now, even that's in doubt.

"It's hard to get motivated now," Ferbey said.

If there were any thoughts of stepping away from the game for good, that's less likely after a loss like this.

"I want to go on my terms, not on terms like this. I just can't see my last competitive game in curling being getting smoked in four ends."