Ontario’s Howard Rajala on top of the leaderboard at Seniors

Howard Rajala’s Rideau Curling Club (Ottawa) foursome is alone in first place following a solid win over previously unbeaten Wayne Tallon of New Brunswick at the 2013 Canadian Senior Men’s Championship at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, PEI. The battle to stay undefeated was a back and forth affair with singles traded until the pivotal 7th end when the Ontario crew stole a point to take the lead at 4-2. Tallon, with Mike Kennedy throwing last stones, managed only a single in the 8th and then held Ontario to a force of one in the 9th to set the stage for the last end. New Brunswick managed to get a couple of corner guards in play but couldn’t get a score of two needed to tie.  The Fredericton team was left with a near impossible double raise, double take-out which was missed leaving Ontario a steal of one and the 6-3 win. Ontario is 5-0 while NB is now 4-1.

Ontario front end players, Ken Sullivan & Doug Johnston
photo by Leona Arsenault

Alan O’Leary’s Nova Scotian entry was cruising along against Alberta’s Wade White leading by three playing the last end. A couple of ticked corner guards by NS takeouts allowed Alberta to score three with the hammer to tie it up.  A well played draw by Albertan third Doug McLennan forced O’Leary into a tricky draw to the button with very little time left on the clock. He was a couple of feet too heavy and White had a surprising win at 9-8. Both teams are part of a five way tie for third at 3-2. In the final men’s game this morning, NL’s Glen Goss defeated NWT’s Glen Hudy 12-4 for a much needed victory. Goss is at 2-3 while Hudy remains winless after five games. The women’s games featured an upset as previously unbeaten Lois Fowler of Brandon, Manitoba suffered her first loss of the tournament when Saskatchewan’s Cathy Inglis scored two in the 9th and then stole three points in the 10th end stopping her winning streak with the 8-5 win. Manitoba is now 4-1, while Inglis has rebounded from three consecutive losses, winning two in a row. NWT’s Ann McKellar-Gillis won her second game with a 10-4 win over BC’s Karen Lepine. NWT is 2-3 while Lepine drops to 1-4. Finally, Northern Ontario’s Vicky Barrett dumped the host province’s Nola Murphy 12-5 to boost her record to 3-2 while PEI is without a win in five games. Results can be found at here. The draw schedule can be found here. The list of teams participating in this seniors championships can be found here. Statistics for previous games played in the round robin can be found here. Play continues all week with the championship finals for both genders scheduled for Sunday, March 24 at 10:00 am EST. The winners will represent Canada at the 2014 World Seniors at a location yet to be announced.