Alberta, Saskatchewan to play for gold in Toronto

The two winningest provinces in the event’s history will do battle today at 4 p.m. Eastern in the final of the 2016 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. Alberta’s Mick Lizmore and Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte each prevailed in their semifinals on Saturday morning at the Weston Golf and Country Club in Toronto to reach the gold-medal game. Both provinces have won 10 Canadian mixed titles, so today’s final — which will be streamed live at https://www.rogerstv.com/2016mixedcurling and broadcast live on Rogers TV cable 10/63 in Toronto/Scarborough, Rogers TV Sports+ and Super Sports Pak customers on Channel 432 — will break the logjam. Lizmore’s Albertans from Edmonton — third Sarah Wilkes, second Brad Thiessen, lead Alison Kotalyk — maintained their perfect record in Toronto with an 11th straight victory, doubling New Brunswick’s Charlie Sullivan 6-3, while Saskatchewan (Korte’s Saskatoon team is rounded out by third Ros Stewart, second Kevin Marsh and lead Carolyn Marsh) needed an extra end to beat Northern Ontario’s Colin Koivula 5-4. New Brunswick and Northern Ontario will do battle for bronze, also at 4 p.m. ET. Alberta put its victory away with deuces in the fourth and sixth ends and never really gave New Brunswick a sniff in the later ends. Alberta was scored at a blazing 91 per cent for the game, with Kotylak and Wilkes leading the way at 95 and 94 per cent respectively. Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario, meanwhile, spent their game trading single points. As it turned out, Saskatchewan’s first-end steal of a single would set the stage for Korte having the last rock in the ninth end for the victory, despite all four Northern Ontario players being scored at an identical 92 per cent. Saskatchewan is seeking back-to-back Canadian Mixed championships after Max Kirkpatrick’s victory last year in North Bay, Ont. Alberta, meanwhile, last prevailed in 2013 when Darren Moulding took gold in Ottawa. The winner of today’s final will represent Canada at the 2016 World Mixed Championship, Oct. 15-22 in Kazan, Russia. Final Round Robin Standings Championship Pool
 10-0 Alberta 8-2 Northern Ontario 6-4 Saskatchewan 6-4 New Brunswick 6-4 Nova Scotia 5-5 Quebec 4-6 Northwest Territories 3-7 Yukon Seeding Pool
 6-3 Ontario 5-4 Manitoba 3-6 Newfoundland and Labrador 3-6 British Columbia 2-7 Prince Edward Island 0-9 Nunavut For event, team and draw information, visit www.curling.ca/2016mixed. For a downloadable copy of the event draw, click here. For a downloadable copy of the team rosters, click here. Draw scores/standings will be immediately available on Curling Canada’s website, www.curling.ca.