(by Allen Cameron) Cathy King and her Canadian teammates are proving tough to beat at the 2013 World Senior Curling Championships in Fredericton, N.B.
Team Canada second Lesley McEwan delivers a rock during the 2013 World Seniors Curling Championships. (Photo, WCF/Richard Gray)
King’s team from St. Albert, Alta. — rounded by third Carolyn Morris, second Lesley McEwan, lead Doreen Gares, alternate Christine Jurgenson and coach Bill Tschirhart — cruised to an 11-3 win over Japan’s Mikiko Tsuchiya on Monday at the Grant-Harvey Centre.
The victory left Team Canada (which set a record for most lopsided victory in World Seniors Championships history on Sunday with a 21-1 victory over Russia) with a 3-0 record, tops in its round-robin pool. Winnipeg-born Margie Smith and her team from the U.S. is in second with a 2-0 record.
The 2013 World Seniors are being staged in conjunction with the 2013 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Fredericton.
“There’s always room for improvement,” said Morris after the victory that was all but sealed when Canada stole four in the fifth end. “Any time you miss a shot, there’s room for improvement. But I like our cohesiveness. We’re very much a team that sticks together through missed shots and made shots. We have each other’s backs.”
Morris is the most experienced player for Team Canada at the World Seniors, but it’s the first time she’s played in the event representing her native country. Morris played for Scotland four times, winning gold in 2005 and silver in 2003 when her family was living there for business.
Success runs in her family. Her son, Sean, is a former world junior champion, representing Canada in 1994. Sean’s wife, Cori, won an Olympic silver medal in 2010 playing lead for Cheryl Bernard’s Canadian team. Morris’s daughter Kim won the Scottish women’s title in 2006 and played at the Ford World Women’s Championship in Grande Prairie, Alta. And Kim’s husband, Tom Brewster, won silver medals at the 2011 and 2012 world men’s championships, and bronze at the recently completed 2013 Ford World Men’s Championship in Victoria.
Playing for Canada this time around has been gratifying for Carolyn Morris.
“It’s awesome. I can’t say anything else but awesome,” she said. “The opening ceremonies were exhilarating. I had goosebumps, I had tears in my eyes. It was fantastic. To wear the Maple Leaf is a dream come true for me. I was very proud and honoured to represent Scotland, but I’m a Canadian and I’m so excited to be here.”
The Canadian women are back in action on Tuesday when they take on New Zealand’s Liz Matthews (1-1) at noon (all times Atlantic).
Rob Armitage’s 3-0 Canadian men’s team from Red Deer, Alta. — third Keith Glover, second Randy Ponich, lead Wilf Edgar and alternate Lyle Treiber (Tschirhart is coaching both senior teams) — is in action later today, taking on Australia’s Hugh Millikin (4-0) in a battle of unbeatens at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, in World Mixed Doubles play, the Canadian duo of Robert Desjardins and Isabelle Néron of Saguenay, Que., bounced back from a two-loss Sunday with a 12-3 win over Romania’s Valentin Anghelinei and Ana-Maria Saracu.
After giving up a stolen point in the first end, Canada (2-2) took control by scoring three in the second end and four more in the fourth, and put the victory away with four in the seventh end, leaving the Romanians winless at 0-3.
“It was important to win; we knew we couldn’t lose,” said Néron. “We knew what happened in the first end, and we just had to fix the situation.”
Just as important as the win was getting some of Team Canada’s confidence back, said Desjardins.
“We wanted to get our draw weight back (after Sunday), which we did,” he said. “We drew very well in that game. The ice was terrific and it was easy to draw today, and we’re slowly getting our confidence back. That’s what we needed.”
Team Canada is back in action on Tuesday at 9 p.m. against Hungary’s Zsolt Kiss and Dorottya Palancsa (2-1).
For live scores and standings from the World Mixed Doubles Championship, go to: www.wmdcc2013.curlingevents.com/. Selected games from the World Mixed Doubles can be watched online at: www.youtube.com/WorldCurlingTV.
For live scores and standings from the World Seniors Championship, go to: wscc2013.curlingevents.com/.