Going for Gold!

The teams are set for the gold medal games at the 2015 Everest Canadian Senior Men’s & Women’s Curling Championships at the Thistle CC in Edmonton.
2015 Everest Seniors

(Photo Annie Teveniuk and Lisa Miller)

The semi finals held this morning produced unexpected results as both number one seeds were defeated.  Ted Butler and his Buckingham-based team of Don Westphal, Maurice Cayouette and Michel Laroche stole a single in the second end then two more points in the 3rd to lead Alberta’s Glen Hansen 3-0.  Alberta was forced to one in the 4th but stole one in the 5th to sneak a bit closer. Alberta had Québec in trouble in the next end only to have Butler deliver an out turn double take-out to score two points and a 5-2 lead. Another steal in the 7th pretty much sealed the deal and trip to the gold medal game for Québec. Butler’s opponent will be hard hitting Randy Neufeld of La Salle, Manitoba and his team of Dean Moxham, Pete Nicholls and Dale Michie scored two in the second end and replied to New Brunswick’s Wayne Tallon’s second end deuce with three points in the 4th.  Out came the Manitoba hitting machine and Tallon could only score a single point over the next three ends.  The final score was 6-4. Alberta will play New Brunswick for the bronze medals. In women’s play, Saskatchewan’s Cathy Inglis, solid all week, led Alberta’s Terri Loblaw 3-2 playing the 6th. But bad luck for Inglis and good rock placement for Loblaw caused Saskatchewan to jam two takeouts resulting in an open hit for four and a three point lead.  Inglis had the draw the button against three in the 7th but was a bit heavy resulting in a steal of three more and handshakes.  Loblaw’s North Hill CC team from Calgary with Judy Pendergast, Sandy Bell and Cheryl Meek will meet Nova Scotia’s Colleen Jones in the gold medal game. In a back and forth game between Jones and BC’s Sandra Jenkins, the Nova Scotia team was one up coming home without the hammer.  BC had a stone in the back of the button which Jones tried to draw to but came up light leaving Jenkins with a draw to the four foot for the win. Except she was heavy forcing the extra end. In the 9th, Jones made a nice tap back to take a stone off the button.  Jenkins removed it but left Jones a routine hit for the win which wasn’t so routine when it curled almost too much but her second shot stone counted for the win. Jones and her Mayflower team of Kim Kelly, Mary Sue Radford and Nancy Delahunt win the game 5-4. BC will play Saskatchewan for the bronze medals.