Alberta’s Mick Lizmore and New Brunswick’s Charlie Sullivan will advance to the next round of the 2016 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship after finishing the round robin at the top of their respective pools on Wednesday night at the Weston Curling Club in Toronto.
(Curling Canada/Sonja DiMarco Photo)
Sullivan and his team of Leah Thompson, Paul Nason and Joanne Freeze earned top spot in Pool B by surging to a decisive 9-2 win over Nunavut’s Ed Macdonald on Wednesday night. The team from Thistle St. Andrews Curling Club in Saint John, N.B., scored five points in the fifth end to break the game open and take control.
Alberta’s Lizmore, Sarah Wilkes, Brad Thiessen and Alison Kotylak had to fight their way through a tight game against Prince Edward Island’s Eddie MacKenzie to finish the round robin with a perfect 6-0 record. Trailing by one in the eighth, MacKenzie scored one to tie the game at 6-6 and force the extra end. A single in the ninth gave Alberta the 7-6 victory and top spot in Pool A to wrap up the round robin.
The top four teams in each pool now head into the Championship Pool, where they will play teams from the opposite pool, carrying forward their full won-lost records so far in the competition.
Joining Alberta in the Championship Round from Pool A are Nova Scotia’s Doug MacKenzie (4-2), Northern Ontario’s Colin Koivula (4-2), and Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte (3-3).
From Pool B, New Brunswick’s Sullivan will be joined by Quebec’s Maxime Elmaleh (4-2), who routed Ontario’s Mike McLean 8-1 in the final round robin game, Northwest Territories’ Steve Moss (3-3) and Yukon’s Robert Smallwood (3-3).
Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Nunavut will move to the Seeding Pool. These teams also carry forward their full won-loss records.
Final standings after Draw 9
Pool A
6-0 Alberta
4-2 Nova Scotia
4-2 Northern Ontario
3-3 Saskatchewan
2-4 Newfoundland and Labrador
1-5 Prince Edward Island
1-5 British Columbia
Pool B
5-1 New Brunswick
4-2 Quebec
3-3 Manitoba
3-3 Ontario
3-3 Northwest Territories
3-3 Yukon
0-6 Nunavut
The Championship and Seeding Pools start competition on Thursday with draws at 11 a.m. AT, 3:30 p.m. AT, and 8 p.m. ET.
At the conclusion of the Championship Pool round on Friday, two semifinals will take place Saturday morning at 11 a.m. AT, pitting 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. The two winners then advance to the final Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. while the two losing teams meet in the bronze medal game at the same time.
For event, team and draw information, visit www.curling.ca/2016mixed.
For a downloadable copy of the event draw, click here.
For a downloadable copy of the team rosters, click here.
To watch the live streaming, click here.
Draw scores/standings will be immediately available on Curling Canada’s website, www.curling.ca.