Alberta’s Armitage Earns Bye to the Final. Four Teams Tied for Second.

With one round robin draw remaining at the 2012 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championship in Abbotsford, BC, Alberta’s Rob Armitage of the Red Deer Curling Centre has earned a bye directly to Sunday’s championship final. Armitage defeated Eugene Hritzuk of Saskatchewan 9-7 improving his record to 9-1 and two wins clear of the rest of the field. Down a single point playing the 6th end, the Alberta skip scored three followed by a steal of three in the 7th end. Despite giving up a deuce in the 8th and a steal in the 9th, he waltzed home two up with the hammer. There is a battle for semi final berths as four teams have records of 7-3. Ontario’s Brian Lewis made short work of his PEI opponent 11-2 while Northern Ontario’s Rob Gordon dumped Yukon’s George Hildermand 8-3.

Brian Windsor - BC (photo by Davina)

In a match-up of teams from both coasts, Newfoundland & Labrador’s Glenn Goss made the most of his must win game with BC’s Dennis Graber winning 7-4 dropping the BC foursome to three losses while improving his record to an identical 7-3. In this evening’s last round robin draw, Northern Ontario faces the daunting task of upsetting Alberta to make at least a tie-breaker while BC meets New Brunswick, Ontario plays Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador play PEI. There are a number of scenarios that could play out including no tie-breakers or multiple tie-breakers depending on the wins and losses in these key games. The championship final for men will be played at 2:00pm Sunday, March 25 (EST) while the semi final is set for Saturday night at 10:00pm EST. In other games Friday morning, Manitoba’s Kelly Robertson, the defending Canadian champion evened his record at 5-5 defeating New Brunswick’s Mark Armstrong 9-4. NB sits at 3-7. Finally, Quebec’s Pierre Charette also moved to 5-5 with a 10-3 verdict over Nova Scotia’s Dave McCusker also now with a 3-7 mark. Scores & Standings