CALGARY, November 10…Just two teams remained undefeated after two draws of the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, taking place at the Calgary Curling Club.
Alberta and Northern Ontario won both their games on opening Saturday to stand atop the leaderboard after Day 1.
Skipped by Dean Ross of Calgary, host Alberta whacked Ontario’s Bob Turcotte of Toronto, 8-3 in the evening draw, stealing three in the third end and a single in the fourth to go up 5-0, essentially putting the game away. In the first draw, Alberta defeated Prince Edward Island, 8-6.
Northern Ontario, skipped by Thunder Bay’s Mike Assad, stayed even though, defeating Prince Edward Island’s Kyle Stevenson of Charlottetown, 8-4, to go with its 6-2 win over New Brunswick in Draw 1.
In other Draw 2 results, Yukon/Northwest Territories, skipped by Wade Scoffin of Whitehorse, beat Brian Bailey’s Newfoundland and Labrador squad, 11-3. British Columbia’s Bryan Miki of New Westminster edged Saskatchewan (Ian Mayoh of Debden), 6-5. New Brunswick’s Jamie Brannen of Fredericton stole two in an extra end to defeat Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg, 10-8, while Nova Scotia’s Peter Burgess of Truro nipped Quebec’s Simon Dupuis of Thurso, 8-7, also in an extra end.
Thus, going into Draw 3 Sunday at 12 noon MT/2:00 pm ET, Alberta and Northern Ontario are 2-0. Eight teams are at 1-1: British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Yukon/NWT. Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan are winless at 0-2.
Twelve teams, representing the 10 provinces plus separate entries for Northern Ontario and Yukon/Northwest Territories, are battling this week for the 2008 Canadian Mixed title, which has been won by Alberta and Saskatchewan a leading eight times each since 1964.
The round robin concludes on Thursday morning, followed by any required tiebreakers before the playoffs. The first place team will advance to Friday afternoon’s final, while the second and third place teams meet in a semi-final.
Two members of the winning team will also compete in the inaugural 2008 World Mixed Doubles Championship, March 9-15 in Vierumäki, Finland. The team members will decide who will represent Canada at the event.
CurlTV (www.curltv.com) is providing event coverage to its subscribers.
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