IQALUIT, Nunavut, November 12 (CCA)…Saskatchewan finally suffered its first loss of the week at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, falling to New Brunswick, 9-4 in Draw 12 action at Arniatok Arena.
Skipped by Saskatoon’s Darrell McKee, Saskatchewan put its 7-0 record on the line against New Brunswick (Scott Jones of Moncton) Wednesday afternoon, but steals of a single in the eighth end and a deuce in the ninth sealed the deal for Jones, who improved to 4-4.
Saskatchewan is still on top with a 7-1 record. However, it now has a host of pursuers, including Manitoba (Sean Grassie of Winnipeg) at 6-1 and three teams at 6-2…Ontario (Wayne Tuck of Brantford), Northern Ontario (Ian Fisher of Sault Ste. Marie) and Nova Scotia (Mark Dacey of Halifax).
Nova Scotia continued to roll, defeating British Columbia (Greg Monkman of New Westminster), 10-4. Dacey, of course, won the 2004 Nokia Brier in Saskatoon before finishing third at the Ford Worlds in Gävle, Sweden. He also won the 2002 Canadian Mixed in Halifax. British Columbia is now at 3-5.
In other games, Prince Edward Island (Bill Hope of Charlottetown) took three in the 10th end to edge Quebec (Simon Hebert of Thetford Mines), 6-5. PEI improved to 3-4 while Quebec dropped to 2-6. Alberta (Tom Appelman of Edmonton) finally won its first game, 10-6 over Newfoundland and Labrador (Andrew Mercer of St. John’s). Alberta is 1-6 while Newfoundland and Labrador fell to 2-6.
Round robin play continues tonight with Draw 13 at 7:00 pm, in this 46th edition of the Canadian Mixed, which is being presented by First Air. 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.
Alberta has won a leading nine Mixed titles since 1964. Saskatchewan is next with eight, while Manitoba has won seven.