IQALUIT, Nunavut, November 11…Northern Ontario, skipped by Ian Fisher of Sault Ste. Marie, won a key contest Tuesday afternoon over British Columbia (Greg Monkman of New Westminster), 9-2, to move into a tie for top spot at the Canadian Mixed.

Single steals in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends, followed by another theft of three in the eighth put the game away for Northern Ontario, which improved to 6-1.  It joined idle, undefeated (but with a game in hand) Saskatchewan (Darrell McKee of Saskatoon), which has led from the start and sits at 6-0.

Ontario (Wayne Tuck of Brantford) improved to 5-2, after an 8-3 win over winless Territories (George Lennie of Inuvik).   New Brunswick (Scott Jones of Moncton) went to 2-3 after beating Quebec (Simon Hebert of Thetford Mines), 8-4. 

In the other Draw 9 contest, Nova Scotia (Mark Dacey of Halifax) had its hands full with winless Alberta (Tom Appelman of Edmonton), before prevailing 8-7 in an extra end.  The win moved Nova Scotia to 4-2, joined by Manitoba (Sean Grassie of Winnipeg) at 4-1, which had an afternoon bye.

Play continues at the Arniatok Arena with Draw 10 on Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm.

The round robin concludes Friday morning, after which the first place team will advance directly to the final on Saturday, November 15, while the second and third place teams meet in a semi-final to determine the other finalist.

This 46th edition of the Canadian Mixed, presented by First Air, marks the first time that a Canadian sport championship has been contested in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

-30-