IQALUIT, Nunavut, November 12…Manitoba, skipped by Sean Grassie of Winnipeg, defeated Newfoundland and Labrador (Andrew Mercer of St. John’s), 9-3 in Draw 11 Wednesday morning to climb into second place at the Canadian Mixed.

With undefeated Saskatchewan (Darrell McKee of Saskatoon), at 7-0, enjoying a bye, the victory by Manitoba improved its record to 6-1, with a game in hand over Ontario and Northern Ontario, who are now both at 6-2.   Manitoba has won seven Mixed crowns since 1964, but its last victory came courtesy of skip Jeff Stoughton way back in 1991 in Thunder Bay.

In other games, Nova Scotia (Mark Dacey of Halifax) remained a strong contender and upped its record to 5-2 by whipping Northern Ontario (Ian Fisher of Sault Ste. Marie), 8-3.   The game turned in the fifth end, when Dacey, the 2002 Mixed and 2004 Brier champion, was able to steal three and open up a 7-1 lead.

Ontario (Wayne Tuck of Brantford) was a 6-3 winner over Quebec (Simon Hebert of Thetford Mines), while New Brunswick (Scott Jones of Moncton) moved to 3-4 by keeping the Territories (George Lennie of Inuvik) winless at 0-7, winning by a 12-7 margin.

Round robin play continues today with draws at 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm.  Upon completion of the round robin on Friday morning, 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.

In addition to a Canadian title, two players from the winning team will also represent Canada at the 2009 World Mixed Doubles Championship, slated for April 17-25, 2009 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

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.

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