Northern Ontario’s  Jeff Zechner rink from the Nipigon Fire Department beat the Ken Dusablon team from Winnipeg Manitoba 8-5 in this afternoon’s final at the 53rd Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship at the Truro Curling Club. Manitoba defeated the Southern Ontario team 7-4 to win the semi-final this morning and advance to the championship game. Northern Ontario had earned a bye to the final game by edging Southern Ontario 5-4 in the Page 1 vs 2 game on Friday.

Other members of the winning Northern Ontario team are third Ian Brennan, second Joe Marques, and lead John Zechner Jr. Rounding out the runner-up Manitoba rink are Dennis Neal (third), second Ken English and lead (S.R.) Bob Poole.

PEI’s Gordon MacFadyen rink from the Summerside Fire Department ended round-robin play on Thursday with a 4-6 record and did not advance to the playoff round.

Eleven teams, from all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, with separate rinks from Northern and Southern Ontario, and a team from the Northwest Territories took part in this event. Next year’s championship will take place in Saint John NB.