The championships\, for curlers 50 and over\, will feature arguably the deepest and most accomplished fiel ds in the history of the events.
\nOn the women’s side\, Team Saskat chewan (skip Sherry Anderson\, vice-skip Patty Hersikorn\, second Brenda G oertzen\, lead Anita Silvernagle) from Saskatoon will take a run at a reco rd-breaking fourth consecutive Canadian senior women’s title. That lineup shares the record of three in a row with another Saskatchewan team skippe d by Ev Krahn that won in 1984\, ’85 and ’86.
\nTeam Anderson also w on World Seniors championship gold medals in 2018 and 2019 (the 2020 Canad ian and world seniors championships were cancelled due to the pandemic). < /p>\n
But there will be no shortage of star quality seeking to dethrone the Team Anderson juggernaut when play gets underway Monday at 8:30 a.m. ( all times Eastern).
\nTeam Alberta (Calgary) features 2010 Olympic s ilver-medallists Cheryl Bernard at skip and Carolyn Darbyshire at vice-ski p\, along with second Laine Peters\, who won two Scotties Tournament of He arts at the lead position (2012 with Heather Nedohin\, 2016 with Chelsea C arey) and a world championship bronze medal in 2012. Peters also will be c oaching the U.S. women’s team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
\nTeam B.C. (New Westminster)\, meanwhile\, is skipped by Mary-Anne Ars enault\, who won five Scotties titles and two world championships playing second for Colleen Jones. B.C. vice-skip Penny Shantz\, meanwhile\, won Ol ympic gold in 1988 as a member of Linda Moore’s Canadian team in Calgary\, where curling was a demonstration sport.
\nQuebec (Chicoutimi/St-La mbert/Victoria) is skipped by Isabelle Néron\, who partnered with Robert D esjardins to win the 2013 Canadian mixed doubles championship.
\nAnd the Ontario team from Vaughan is skipped by four-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts bronze-medallist Sherry Middaugh.
\n\nPEI is represented by the Cornwall Curling Club team of (L-R) SKIP: Kim Dolan\, THIRD: Susan McInnis\, SECOND: Kathy O’Ro urke\, and LEAD: Julie Scales
\nOn the men’s side\, me anwhile\, three-quarters of the Saskatchewan team from Saskatoon that won the 2019 Everest Canadian seniors title is back\, with Darrell McKee movin g to skip\, Mark Lane joining in at vice-skip and the familiar front end o f Kory Kohuch and Rory Golanowski seeking back-to-back gold medals.
\n< p>But there are other past Canadian senior men’s champs also to be reckone d with in the Soo.\nOntario’s Bryan Cochrane team from Russell has three members (Cochrane\, vice-skip [and PEI native] Ian MacAulay and lead Ken Sullivan who won the 2016 and 2018 national championships\, as well a s gold (2019) and silver (2017) at the World Senior championships\, and wa s runner-up to Saskatchewan in 2019.
\nTeam Alberta from Lac La Bich e features all four players (skip Wade White\, vice-skip Barry Chwedoruk\, second Dan Holowaychuk and lead George White) who won the 2017 Canadian a nd 2018 World senior championships.
\nAnd Team Manitoba from La Sall e has the same four players (skip Randy Neufeld\; vice-skip Dean Moxham se cond Peter Nicholls and lead Dale Michie) who claimed gold at the 2015 Can adian and 2016 World Senior Championships.
\nTerry Odishaw’s New Bru nswick team from Moncton has an array of gold medals from various events. Vice-skip Mike Kennedy won the 2013 Canadian senior men’s and 2014 World s enior men’s titles playing the same position for Wayne Tallon. Terry Odish aw (2007) and his brother/lead Grant (1994) are former Canadian mixed cham pionship skips. And second Charlie Sullivan won gold at the 1987 Canadian and 1988 World junior men’s championships playing third for his cousin Ji m Sullivan.
\nTeam Quebec (Etchemin/Kenogami/Lacolle) brings its own championship pedigree to the Soo. Skip François Roberge and second Maxime Elmaleh captured the 2006 Tim Hortons Brier title playing with Jean-Miche l Ménard and went on to take silver at that year’s World Championship.
\n\nThe PEI team\, representing the Charlottetown Curl ing Club\, includes (L-R): SKIP: Philip Gorveatt\, THIRD: Kevin Champion\, SECOND: Sean Ledgerwood\, and LEAD: Mike Dillon
\nFou rteen men’s and 14 women’s teams (representing the 10 provinces plus North ern Ontario\, Northwest Territories\, Nunavut and Yukon) will compete\, an d have been seeded into two pools per gender\, based on 2019 results\, and will first play a round robin within their pool through Wednesday.
\nThe top four in each pool then advance to the Championship Pool for gam es against teams from the other pool\, while the remaining teams go to the Seeding Pool. At the conclusion of the Championship Pool on Friday\, Dec. 10\, the semifinals will be held Saturday\, Dec. 11\, at 10:30 a.m.\, pai ring 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. The winners then advance to their respective gol d-medal final while the losers will play for bronze. The medal games are s et for 3:30 p.m.
\nNorthern Ontario has won one Canadian senior men’ s curling title\, courtesy of skip Al Hackner in 2006. The women have won two events — in 1991 led by Eila Brown and in 1995 by Sheila Ross.
\nThe Canadian Senior Men’s Championship began in 1965 at Port Arthur\, Ont . Since then\, Manitoba has won a leading 12 titles\, Ontario is next with 11 while Alberta has 10.
\nThe Canadian Senior Women’s Championshi p began in 1973 at Ottawa. Ontario has won a leading 10 crowns\, followed by Saskatchewan with nine and British Columbia with eight.
\nThe ch ampionships were conducted separately until being combined in 1985 at York ton\, Sask.
\nThis year’s winners will represent Canada in the 2022 World Seniors\, at a site and date to be announced by the World Curling F ederation.
\nDraw results for the 2021 Everest Canadian Seniors will be available at www.curli ng.ca/scoreboard. For event information\, visit www.curling.ca/2021seniors.
\nThis is th e sixth year of title sponsorship by Everest\, the first nationwide funera l planning and concierge service.
\nGames from the 2021 Everest Cana dian Senior Championships will be live-streamed on TSN.ca as well as on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel. Check curling.ca/broadcast for the up-to-date broadc ast schedule.
\nClick to read at Curling Canada: https://www.curling .ca/blog/2021/12/03/stars-gather-in-the-soo/
\n