Tension filled the air in this afternoon’s Draw 17 at the Canadian Mixed in Sudbury.
(CCA) With Ontario’s Mark Homan losing 12-4 to BC’s Doug Marshall and Quebec’s Martin Ferland beating NWT’s Steve Moss 9-3, the hopes of six other teams [including PEI] rested on the outcome of a titanic battle on sheet D between first place Alberta and Saskatchewan’s Jason Ackerman. An Ackerman loss would create multiple tie-breakers with all teams with 5 losses still in the hunt.
The game was conservative for the most part with Saskatchewan stealing points in the first two ends. Balderston replied with a deuce in three. Ackerman took one in the 4th, the 5th and 6th ends were blanked, and then Alberta took one in the 7th to tie the score. Ackerman scored a single in the 8th end going one up playing the 9th. The house was full of stones as great shot after great shot was made. Alberta third Desiree Owen made a great raise take-out and Alberta lay four buried behind a wall. Ackerman made a delicate hit and roll off one of his own stones on the right hand side of the sheet, resulting in second shot stone. Alberta tried to draw on top of it but settled for a corner freeze. The Regina skipper them made a beautiful come around to the top of the button for shot stone. Balderston needed to make a difficult 10 foot raise take-out, just missing it giving up a steal and a two point lead for Saskatchewan. They made that hold up for a 5-3 win and a berth in the semi finals. Unfortunately for all the teams with five losses, that victory eliminated them from the playoff picture.
That playoff picture will be complete later this evening with the result of the game between Martin Ferland’s Quebec squad and Sylvie Robichaud’s New Brunswick foursome. The winner is in, the loser is out.
In the other afternoon match-up, Newfoundland & Labrador’s Gary Alcock improved his record to 3-9 with a 10-3 win over Nunavut.
The last round robin draw will go Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. Atlantic, followed by the semi final between Saskatchewan and the winner of the NB vs QC tilt. That game will be played at 8:00 pm at the Sudbury Curling Club. The winner of the semi final will face Alberta in the championship game, Saturday, November 19th at 2:30 pm.