(by Danny Lamoureux)
On any given night…it happens.
It may not rank up there with the 1980 Miracle on Ice, but Tuesday evening at the Town of Mount Royal Curling Club, previously winless Northwest Territories shocked previously unbeaten Quebec, 11-6 at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship.
Skipped by Nick Saturnino of Inuvik, the Territories came into Draw 10 with a humbling 0-5 record and, to be honest, hadn’t been close in any game, blown out by scores of 14-1, 13-4 twice, 10-4 and 10-3.
However, facing Mike Fournier’s 6-0 Glenmore foursome from Montreal didn’t seem to faze the Territories squad, as it managed to steal five points en route to the improbable victory, sealed with a four-spot in the last end.
With the loss, Quebec dropped to 6-1, followed by idle Ontario (Cory Heggestad of Orillia) at 5-1.
Moving into the playoff picture was Nova Scotia, skipped by Brent MacDougall of Halifax, as it whipped Saskatchewan’s Jeff Hartung of Langenburg, 8-3. Again, thefts were front and centre, as MacDougall stole four points in a row – a single in the fourth end, a deuce in the fifth and another single in the sixth to take command.
With the victory, Nova Scotia upped its record to 5-2, while Saskatchewan dropped to 4-2, the same mark as idle New Brunswick’s James Grattan of Oromocto.
British Columbia’s Tom Buchy of Kimberley evened his record at 3-3 by downing Yukon’s Steve Fecteau of Whitehorse, 10-5, also stealing four points along the way. Yukon remained winless at 0-7.
The other game went to an extra end, before Prince Edward Island’s Robert Campbell of Charlottetown, a two-time Mixed champion, decisioned Manitoba’s Terry McNamee of Brandon, 8-6. Prince Edward Island improved to 3-4 while Manitoba dropped to 2-4.