With one round robin draw remaining at the 2012 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championship in Abbotsford, BC, Alberta’s Rob Armitage of the Red Deer Curling Centre has earned a bye directly to Sunday’s championship final.
Armitage defeated Eugene Hritzuk of Saskatchewan 9-7 improving his record to 9-1 and two wins clear of the rest of the field. Down a single point playing the 6th end, the Alberta skip scored three followed by a steal of three in the 7th end. Despite giving up a deuce in the 8th and a steal in the 9th, he waltzed home two up with the hammer.
There is a battle for semi final berths as four teams have records of 7-3.
Ontario’s Brian Lewis made short work of his PEI opponent 11-2 while Northern Ontario’s Rob Gordon dumped Yukon’s George Hildermand 8-3.
Brian Windsor – BC (photo by Davina)
In a match-up of teams from both coasts, Newfoundland & Labrador’s Glenn Goss made the most of his must win game with BC’s Dennis Graber winning 7-4 dropping the BC foursome to three losses while improving his record to an identical 7-3.
In this evening’s last round robin draw, Northern Ontario faces the daunting task of upsetting Alberta to make at least a tie-breaker while BC meets New Brunswick, Ontario plays Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador play PEI. There are a number of scenarios that could play out including no tie-breakers or multiple tie-breakers depending on the wins and losses in these key games.
The championship final for men will be played at 2:00pm Sunday, March 25 (EST) while the semi final is set for Saturday night at 10:00pm EST.