Two Tied For 1st at Mixed – Ontario One Game Back

Ontario’s Cory Heggestad is now alone in third place while Quebec and Nova Scotia, both idle, lead the field at 7-2 after Wednesday night’s thirteenth draw at the 2013 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship at the TMR Curling Club in the Town of Mount Royal, QC. Heggestad needed the minimum seven ends to dispatch Inuvik’s Nick Saturnino.  A spectacular first end raise take-out for four points by Heggestad sealed the deal early. The Orillia skip with teammates Heather Graham, Greg Balsdon and Amy Mackay are at 6-2 a game behind Quebec’s Fournier and NS’ Brent MacDougall. Saskatchewan’s Jeff Hartung missed a great opportunity to keep pace with the leaders and to join Ontario at 6-2 when he lost to Alberta’s Kurt Balderston in a well played game between the prairie curling powerhouses. Hartung led by one playing the 10th end but without the hammer. A well placed guard likely would have left little for Balderston to score. The guard over-curled a hair, leaving Balderston a quiet tap back through a skinny port for the win which he made perfectly winning 6-5. Hartung is at 5-3 with New Brunswick’s James Grattan and Northern Ontario’s Mike Assad, both winners Wednesday night. Grattan scored four in the first end of his match with Manitoba’s Terry McNamee. The teams then traded deuces over the next five ends until Grattan took one in the 7th to lead 9-6 without last stone. The eight-time Brier participant stole a three in that 8th end to finish that game 12-6 officially eliminating McNamee from any playoff hopes at 2-6.

photo by Eve Bélisle

Assad had a barn-burner with BC’s Tom Buchy as both teams were at 4-3. The Thunder Bay skip led by two with the hammer playing the last end; however, the Kimberley foursome had Assad in trouble laying two behind two guards. With his first of the 10th, Assad drew the four foot partially behind cover. Buchy picked it out forcing Assad to replicate his first stone to win the game. He was heavy, ending up in the back twelve foot for a steal of two and an extra end. Unperturbed, the Fort William CC squad kept things relatively clean in the 11th with Assad needing a simple hit to win which he made. The final score was 9-7. The playoff scenarios are still very much up in the air as teams with five losses cannot be counted out yet. Teams with evening byes were Yukon’s Steve Fecteau (0-9), PEI’s Robert Campbell (5-4), Quebec’s Mike Fournier (7-2) and Nova Scotia’s Brent MacDougall (7-2). Play continues until Saturday at the TMR Curling Club in the Town of Mount Royal, Quebec (part of greater Montréal) with the championship final set for 2:00 pm EST on Saturday, November 24th. Real time results are available at www.curling.ca Live streaming is available at www.canadianmixed.com Thursday’s games are scheduled for 10:00am; 2:30pm and 7:00pm EST.