BURLINGTON, November 15 (CCA/PEICA)…Prince Edward Island, skipped by former provincial junior champion Kyle Stevenson of Charlottetown, is the only undefeated team after Day 2 of the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, taking place at the Burlington Golf and Country Club.
In a battle of undefeated teams, Prince Edward Island managed to eke out a 6-5 extra end victory over New Brunswick (Mary Jane McGuire of Fredericton) on Sunday night to move to 3-0 in the 12-team round robin. Stevenson matched McGuire point for point until the 11th end, when he scored a single for the win.
The PEI team, which includes third Donna Butler, second Doug MacGregor, and lead stone Tricia Affleck had earlier recorded wins over the other Atlantic provinces teams in the event, following up their 8-5 Saturday win over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Matt Blandford foursome with another 8-5 victory, this time over the Mark Dacey rink from Halifax on Sunday morning.
After Sunday evening play, New Brunswick fell into a tie for second, at 2-1, with host Ontario, skipped by another former provincial junior champion, Mark Bice of Sarnia, who defeated British Columbia (Jason Montgomery of Duncan), 10-4 in Draw 4 Sunday evening.
In the only other evening match, Yukon/Northwest Territories (Wade Scoffin of Whitehorse) had no trouble with Quebec (Simon Hebert of Baie-Comeau), 7-2.
Six teams are at 1-1, including favoured Nova Scotia, skipped by 2004 Brier winner and Ford Worlds bronze medallist Mark Dacey of Halifax.
Twelve teams, representing the 10 provinces, plus Northern Ontario and Yukon/Northwest Territories, are contesting the 47th edition of The Mixed, from November 14-21.
The teams play a round robin, after which the first place team advances directly to Saturday’s final, while the second and third place teams meet in a semi-final. PEI’s Monday games are against Northern Ontario and Ontario.
Ontario has won the Canadian Mixed twice since the championship began in 1964 in Toronto – in 1986 by skip Dave Van Dine in Kamloops and by skip John Epping at the 2006 edition in Whitehorse.
Alberta leads all provinces with nine wins, while defending champion Manitoba and Saskatchewan are next with eight victories each. PEI won the Mixed in 1987 (Peter Gallant, Kathie Gallant, Phil Gorveatt, Simone MacKenzie) and 1989 (Robert Campbell, Angela Roberts, Mark O’Rourke, Kathy O’Rourke).
Round robin play continues through Thursday, with draws at 10:00 am, 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm Atlantic Time, with a final draw at 10:00 am on Friday, prior to the playoffs.