IQALUIT, Nunavut, November 9, 2008…British Columbia, skipped by 1982 Brier runner-up Greg Monkman, is now 2-0 at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, taking place at Arniatok Arena.

Sunday morning in Draw 2 action, his Royal City Curling Club team from New Westminster put a whuppin’ on Alberta’s Tom Appelman, 10-2, in a game called after six ends.  An opening four in the first end, combined with a steal of four in the fourth was all that was needed to cement the victory.  Last night, British Columbia just got by the Territories, 5-4, counting one in the 10th, in its opener.

Keeping pace was Saskatchewan, skipped by former Brier competitor Darrell McKee of Saskatoon, after a 10-5 win over Prince Edward Island (Bill Hope of Charlottetown).   McKee iced the win with a four-spot in the ninth end.  Saturday evening, Saskatchewan’s Nutana Curling Club foursome won its first game, 8-4, over Newfoundland and Labrador.

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia, skipped by 2004 Brier winner and 2002 Mixed champion Mark Dacey, got off on the right foot with a 9-2 pasting of Quebec (Simon Hebert of Thetford Mines), with eight of those points coming on steals.   The game got out of hand early, after Dacey’s Halifax Mayflower Curling Club squad stole a deuce in the first, a single in the second and another deuce in the third.

After Quebec countered with its own deuce in the fourth, Dacey counted one in five, then used thefts of one in the sixth and a pair in the seventh to put it away.  Playing third for Dacey is wife Heather Smith-Dacey, a former Canadian junior (1991) and two-time Canadian Mixed (1994, 2002) champion.

Idle Manitoba (Sean Grassie of Winnipeg) and Northern Ontario (Ian Fisher of Sault Ste. Marie) are also at 1-0.

Round robin play continues on Sunday with draws at 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm ET.

-30-