IQALUIT, Nunavut, November 9, 2008 (CCA)… Manitoba has moved into a three-way tie with idle British Columbia and Saskatchewan, all with 2-0 records, after three draws of the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship.
Sunday afternoon at the Arniatok Arena, Manitoba (Sean Grassie of Winnipeg) won its second straight, a hard-fought 7-5 decision of Nova Scotia (Mark Dacey of Halifax), taking a deuce in the 10th end for the win. The victory allowed Manitoba to join undefeated British Columbia (Greg Monkman of New Westminster) and Saskatchewan (Darrell McKee of Saskatoon) atop the leaderboard.
In other games, New Brunswick (Scott Jones of Moncton) won its first contest, 9-4 over winless Alberta (Tom Appelman of Edmonton); Quebec (Simon Hebert of Thetford Mines) evened its record at 1-1 with an 11-3 walloping of the Territories (George Lennie of Inuvik) and, in a provincial battle, Ontario (Wayne Tuck of Brantford) defeated Northern Ontario (Ian Fisher of Sault Ste. Marie), 8-5.
Behind the three leaders are New Brunswick at 1-0, followed by Northern Ontario, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, all at 1-1. Four teams are still winless early in the competition…. Newfoundland and Labrador at 0-1, with Territories, Prince Edward Island and Alberta at 0-2. PEI’s Bill Hope rink lost their opener on Saturday 9-6 to Northern Ontario, and dropped a 10-5 decision to Saskatchewan on Sunday morning.
Draw 4 got underway at 8 pm Atlantic, with British Columbia meeting Saskatchewan in the marquee matchup. The teams play a round robin, which concludes on Friday, after which the first place team advances 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.
Alberta has won a leading nine Mixed titles since the championship began in 1964 in Toronto, including last season, when Dean Ross of Calgary defeated Ontario’s Bob Turcotte in the final.
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 is the first time in history that a Canadian sport championship has been held in Iqaluit, located in the territory of Nunavut, about 2,000 kilometres north of Ottawa.