Leader Saskatchewan, skipped by Jeff Gartner, split their games today at the 50th annual Canadian Firefighters Curling Championships being played at the Charlottetown Curling Club. They beat second-place Northern Ontario, skipped by Jeff Zechner, by a 6-2 score, in only six ends, opening the game with a deuce, and stealing another pair and a single to lead 5-0 after just three ends of play. The Saskatchewan team then lost their second game, to British Columbia, by a 6-4 score. The game was tied coming home, after BC blanked the ninth to retain hammer in the final end, and scored a deuce for the win. Northern Ontario won their second game of the day by default over Newfoundland and Labrador, who are not at the event.  BC also won their morning game, 7-2 over Nova Scotia.

Saskatchewan has a bye in the final round robin draw, Friday at 9 am, and finishes with a 9-2 record. Both Northern Ontario and British Columbia are at 8-2 with one game left. BC plays Manitoba (5-5), while Northern Ontario  plays the Northwest Territories (2-8) in the final draw.

At the conclusion of the round robin, the top four teams will advance to the Page playoff round. Also in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs are Nova Scotia, who finished at 8-3, and Southern Ontario who are at 7-3 and have one game left, against PEI’s Jeff Nelson team from the Montague Curling Club.

Manitoba and Alberta are at 5-5, while PEI is 4-6, New Brunswick is 3-7, and Quebec and the Territories are 2-8.

The Page games are scheduled for Friday at 2:30 pm, but will go later in the day if tiebreakers are required.

In the championship round, the first and second place teams play off in the Page 1 vs 2 game, with the winner advancing directly to the 1 pm Saturday final, and the loser playing the winner of the Page 3 vs 4 game in the semi-final, Saturday at 9 am, with that winner going to the championship game.