Here are photos and a video of the piping-in of the curlers at the 2019 Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship at the Cornwall Curling Club. Angela Hodgson was the Master of Ceremonies. Phyllis Lowther sang the National Anthem, Cornwall Deputy Mayor Corey Stevenson and Cornwall Curling Club President Gary O’Sullivan (who did double duty as flag bearer) were on hand with words of welcome. Lance Lowther, icemaker at the Cornwall Curling Club since its inception, used a delivery stick to throw the ceremonial 1st rock, while Ernie Stavert, championship organizer and one of the early members of the Cornwall club, was on hand to sweep the rock, which ended up in the four foot ring without much sweeping needed.

Video:

Photo gallery (Click to enlarge)

Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte and Sherry Anderson are wearing gold medals after the finals of the 2019 Everest Canadian Seniors wrapped up on the ice of The Chilliwack Curling Club in Chilliwack, B.C. on Thursday.

Saskatoon’s Korte, along with his Nutana Curling Club team of third Darrell McKee, second Kory Kohuch and lead Rory Golanowski, took an early 3-0 lead against the reigning Canadian champs skipped by Bryan Cochrane from Russell, Ont. (third Ian MacAulay, second Morgan Currie and lead Ken Sullivan). In the third, Ontario scored one and stole another in the fourth to give themselves a glimmer of hope. That was quickly shut down when Korte rebounded with a three in the fifth to take a 6-2 lead. A single and another steal kept Ontario’s hopes alive, but with a two-point lead and last-rock advantage heading home, Korte had a wide-open hit for an 8-4 win over the defending champs.

“This is so incredible, we know how hard curling is and how hard you have to work at it,” said Korte after the game. “We feel that after all those years that we didn’t do better at the Brier, then coming here and winning it, we’re just so happy to be Team Canada and we will be so proud wearing (the Maple Leaf).”

“This is unbelievable. The four of us fit so well together, it’s hard to find four players who mesh so well. It just makes curling easier and I’m really proud of all my guys and this team, it’s just fantastic.”

Alberta’s Wade White and his team of third Barry Chwedoruk, second Dan Holowaychuk and lead George White from the Lac Le Biche Curling Club won the bronze medal after defeating Manitoba’s Dave Boehmer 10-3 in six ends. Boehmer, backed by his team of third Terry McRae, second Tom Want and lead George Hacking of the Petersfield Curling Club, kept up for the first three ends, but a steal of two by Alberta and game-deciding five in the sixth end led to handshakes and a bronze medal for Alberta.

In the women’s final, Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson battled to an 11-7 extra-end win over Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh in a game that saw the momentum shift back and forth throughout.

After blanking the first two ends, Middaugh and her team of Karri-Lee Grant, second Christine Loube, lead Jane Hooper-Perroud and alternate Colleen Madonia of the Thornhill Club scored four in the third to take a comfortable lead, but Anderson and her Nutana Curling Club team of third Patty Hersikorn, second Brenda Goertzen and lead Anita Silvernagle bounced back with a score of three in the fourth.

In the eighth, Middaugh needed to hit and stick to score two for the win. Instead, her shooter rolled off, forcing the extra end. Anderson’s final open hit for four put the game away and earned her a third straight national seniors championship.

“Exhausted,” said Anderson right after the game. “That was THE most exhausting game I’ve ever played in. It went from highs and lows. I feel bad for Sherry and her team, but my girls battled back, they made a lot of great shots, and it was exciting I’m sure for the fans.”

In the women’s bronze medal game, Alberta’s Glenys Bakker (third Shannon Nimmo, second Lesley McEwan and lead Diana McNallie of the Garrison Curling Club) captured the bronze with a 8-3 win over Manitoba’s Terry Ursel (third Wanda Rainka, second Brenda Walker and lead Tracy Igonia of the Arden Curling Club). Bakker took a 5-0 lead after three ends and never looked back.

Korte and Anderson will represent Canada in the 2020 World Seniors, at a site and date to be announced by the World Curling Federation.

The World Seniors officially began in 2002. Canada has won a leading ten men’s and twelve women’s titles. Since 2005, the winners of the Canadian Seniors have represented Canada in the following year’s World Seniors. Thus, last year’s winners — Ontario’s Bryan Cochrane and Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson — will wear the Maple Leaf in the 2019 World Seniors, April 20-27 in Stavanger, Norway.

Click to read this story at Curling Canada.

Future Canadian curling stars are converging in Sherwood Park, Alta., for the third edition of the Canadian Under-18 Boys and Girls Curling Championships, beginning on Tuesday at the Glen Allan Recreation Complex.

Both the Nova Scotia boys and girls teams will attempt to defend their titles at the 2019 Under-18 Canadian Curling Championships. (Photo, Curling Canada/Mark Finley)

Both the Nova Scotia boy’s and girl’s teams are aiming to defend their titles after sweeping the competition last year in Saint Andrews, N.B.

Nova Scotia boys vice-skip Owen Purcell and lead Scott Weagle return from last year’s lineup, this time joined by skip Adam McEachren and second Alex McDonah from the Truro Curling Club. Coach Anthony Purcell returns as coach.

It is Purcell’s third national championship this season. He threw fourth stones for Nova Scotia at the 2019 New Holland Canadian Juniors and third for Dalhousie University Tigers at the 2019 U SPORTS-Curling Canada Championships.

Alberta will have two boys teams at the event. The first team, which won the Alberta U-18 title, is skipped by Nathan Molberg from the St. Albert Curling Club. His team played at the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, Alta., last month and advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-3 round-robin record.

Alberta will also have a host team skipped by Cortland Sonnenberg, the son of Renée, who skipped Alberta at the 1999 and 2001 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Sonnenberg is also a coach for the Curling Canada women’s program and analytics lead.

(L-R): Schut, Johnston, Kelly, MacKenzie, coach Lori Robinson

[PEI is once again represented by the Mitchell Schut rink from the Cornwall Curling Club, which also includes Nick Johnston, Liam Kelly, and Colin MacKenzie, who were also PEI’s Canada Games boys representatives this season.]

Fourteen boys teams will compete for the title. Nunavut and Yukon are not sending representation; therefore those spots were filled by the Alberta host team and, because it won last year’s competition, Nova Scotia received a second spot in the boy’s event – the Ethan Young rink from Halifax.

On the women’s side the defending Nova Scotia girl’s champions, skipped by Isabelle Ladouceur, will not be in the competition but the province still has strong representation. Cally Moore of the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax aims to build on the bronze medal she earned at the 2019 Canada Winter Games.

However, the Canada Winter Games gold-medallists might have something to say about that. Northern Ontario’s Bella Croisier hopes to win her second gold medal in Alberta in just over the span of a month at the U-18 championships after earning gold for Ontario at the Canada Winter Games.

(L-R): Ferguson, Shaw, Burris, Murray, coach Pat Quilty

The quartet of Lauren Ferguson, Katie Shaw, Alexis Burris and Lexie Murray from the Cornwall Curling Club in Prince Edward Island will also reach a special milestone this season. This will be third time they’ve represented P.E.I. at a national curling championship this season after playing at the New Holland Canadian Juniors and Canada Winter Games.

Nunavut is not represented in the girl’s competition this year; therefore in addition to Alberta’s championship team skipped by Jessica Wytrychowski (Airdrie Curling Club), Alberta will also have a host team led by Julia Bakos from the Crestwood Curling Club in Edmonton.

The teams competing will attempt to continue a trend that’s been set over the first two years of the event. Each year a province has swept both the boy’s and girl’s titles. Northern Ontario won both titles during the inaugural championships in 2017 and Nova Scotia did the same in 2018.

The fourteen teams in both the boys and girls competitions are divided into two pools of seven. They’ll play a six-game round robin with the top four teams from each pool advancing to a double-knockout bracket that will qualify four teams for the medal-round games. Those four teams compete in the semifinals with the winners advancing to the gold-medal games and the losers playing for bronze.

All draws will be live-streamed on Curling Canada’s Youtube page, found here: https://www.youtube.com/curlingcanada

For more information on team lineups, schedules and tickets, visit the event website: https://www.curling.ca/2019under18/

Click to read this story at the Curling Canada website.

This is a reminder and an update on the Junior Spring Leagues  scheduled to start this weekend. 

The four-person teams WILL start on Saturday for sure as there are 6 teams confirmed so far.  If you have a team interested in playing OR if you have some curlers interested in finding a team to play with for the Spring League, please let Amy at Curl PEI (aduncan@sportpei.pe.ca) know as soon as possible.

The Doubles League only has three teams so far so they are still looking for more teams.  This one also has a few issues with availability and so, it looks like the bulk, if not all, games will be played on April 12 & 14 (registration will be adjusted accordingly).  Again, if you have a team or a curler who would like to play please let Amy know as soon as possible.

Previous details:

Curl PEI is pleased to announce that they will be moving forward with Junior Spring Curling Leagues at the Charlottetown Curling Club.   There will be a regular 4-person league (any combination of players) and hopefully a mixed doubles or doubles league. Dates (times may change):

• March 30 from 10am-1pm
• April 7, 12 & 14 from 1-4pm

The Leagues are for:

• 4-person: curlers born on or after July 1, 2004, with one curler who is one year older, so born on or after July 1, 2003 
• Doubles: curlers who were born on or after July 1, 2002

Registration will be:

• 4-person: $120
• Doubles: $60

Curlers will have to pay a Curl PEI and Curling Canada fee if they have not already done so this season.  

The exact schedule/format will depend on the number of teams. 

Please confirm your team by sending an email with the players’ names to aduncan@sportpei.pe.ca

The 2019 College Clean Restoration Canadian Masters Curling Championships, for curlers age 60 and over, goes from March 31 to April 7 at the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon, with the first draws taking place on Monday April 1st. PEI will be represented by the Bill Hope rink from the Cornwall and Silver Fox clubs, and the Sandy Hope team from Cornwall.

Live scoring will be available at: https://curlsask.ca/scoreboard/#!/competitions/4518

(L-R): Bill Hope, Peter Murdoch, David Murphy, Dario Zannier

(L-R): Sandy Hope, Shelley Ebbett, Debbie Rhodenhizer, Arleen Harris

Event website: https://nutanacurlingclub.ca/eventPage.php?id=70

Canadian Masters website: http://www.eteamz.com/CanadianMasters/

The Championship Pools are set in both men’s and women’s pool play as the round robin finished up Monday afternoon at the 2019 Everest Canadian Seniors Curling Championships in Chilliwack, B.C.

[The PEI men finished the round robin with three wins, while the Island women went without a win. Both teams will carry their round robin records forward into Seeding Pool play.]

Bruce Korte’s undefeated Saskatchewan rink from the Nutana Curling Club clinched top spot in men’s Pool B with a 6-0 record. Joining them are Northern Ontario’s Al Hackner (4-2), B.C.’s Wes Craig (4-2) and the reigning champions from Ontario representing the Russell Curling Club, skipped by Bryan Cochrane (3-3).

In Pool A, the 2018 world champion, Wade White of Alberta, finished at 5-1, alone in top spot after wrapping up the round robin with a commanding 10-2 win over Manitoba earlier in the day. Manitoba’s Dave Boehmer and Quebec’s François Roberge both finish with 4-2 records, and Nova Scotia’s Brent MacDougall from the Mayflower Club in Halifax grabs that last spot with a 3-3 record.

In women’s action, Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson finished up the round robin with a perfect 6-0 record after a 6-3 win over Alberta’s Glenys Bakker.

Pool A teams joining Anderson in the Championship Pool include Northern Ontario’s Kim Beaudry from the Fort Frances Curling Club (4-2), B.C.’s Marilou Richter from the Penticton and Kelowna Curling Club (3-3) and Glenys Bakker of Calgary’s Garrison Curling Club (3-3).

Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh heads Pool B, also with a perfect 6-0 record. Middaugh picked up a 4-2 win in a tight game against Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery in the afternoon draw.

Also heading to the Championship pool from the B pool are Manitoba’s Terry Ursel of the Arden Curling Club (5-1), McConnery’s Mayflower foursome from Halifax (4-2), and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Diane Roberts, who grabbed the final spot with a 3-3 record.

The Championship pool consists of the top four teams in each pool crossing over and playing the teams from the opposite pool. The rest of the teams will play in a seeding pool to determine standing for the next year.

The Championship and Seeding pool play continues on Tuesday with draws at 9:00 a.m, 2:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m., all times PT.

Draw results for the 2019 Everest Canadian Seniors will be available at www.curling.ca. For event information, visit www.curling.ca/2019seniors.

Selected games from the 2019 Everest Canadian Seniors will be streamed live by CBC Sports. You can watch at cbcsports.ca or via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.

 Click to read at Curling Canada