Crowded at the Top of Senior Men Leaderboard

This morning’s draw at the 2012 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championship ended with three teams now tied for first place and another team on their heels. In the feature game, Ontario’s Brian Lewis of the Ottawa CC ended Alberta’s Rob Armitage’s winning streak at six with a convincing 7-3 triumph. Lewis stole a pair in the 2nd end, then followed with another steal of one in the 4th to jump in front 3-0.  After a single point to Alberta in the 5th, Lewis executed a nice double takeout to score three in the 6th cruising to a concession by Armitage after the 9th end. Lewis’ record is 5-2 chasing the leaders but one game ahead. Alberta now sits at 6-1, tied with Dennis Graber of the host province and Glenn Goss of Newfoundland & Labrador. The BC foursome had the morning off while Goss tangled with Nova Scotia’s Dave McCusker. The team from St. John’s stole singles in five consecutive ends from the second to the sixth coasting to an 8-2 decision. NS drops to 2-5. In the other men’s match-up, Yukon’s George Hilderman, looking for his first win, tangled with New Brunswick’s Mark Armstrong. Hilderman stole a single in the 9th to tie the score at 5 heading to the final end. Hilderman made a nice hit and roll half buried behind a pile of guards. Armstrong saved the game for his team with a nice out turn tap back for 6-5 win. NB sits at 2-5 while the Whitehorse squad remains winless.

Photography by Davina

Saskatchewan’s Darlene Gillies was aiming to improve her record and a tie for the lead with Alberta’s Cathy King when she squared off against Northern Ontario’s Darla Esch. The North Bay skip, with only a pair of wins to date, led 3-0 and 6-3 after six ends. The Unity CC’s Gillies, scored a deuce in the 7th and stole singles in the 8th and 9th ends to be one up coming home.  In the 10th end, Gillies’ first shot drew to the back four foot and Esch followed it to sit one. Gillies attempted to follow her and freeze on top of shot stone but was a bit heavy and slid to the back four foot for second shot. Esch calmly drew to the button for her deuce and an 8-7 upset. Saskatchewan is now 5-2 in a three way tie for second place with NL’s Cathy Cunningham and NS’ Nancy Delahunt, both with morning byes. Ann McKellar-Gillis won her first game for the NWT as the team from Yellowknife stormed out to an 8-2 lead hanging for an 8-7 win over PEI’s Shirley Berry. NWT is 1-6 and PEI not sits at 2-5. In the final women’s game of the morning. Manitoba’s Laurie Deprez kept her playoff hopes alive and pushed BC’s Penny Shantz to the brink with a 12-3 trouncing. Manitoba is 4-3 while BC is 3-4. The round robin continues until Friday, March 23 with semi-finals for both genders then scheduled for Saturday followed by both championship finals, Sunday, March 25 at 2:00pm EST. Scores & Standings Host Committee Web Site