Canadian Mixed underway in Burlington

The 2010 edition of the  Canadian Mixed Curling Championship got underway Saturday at the Burlington Golf and Country Club. Twelve teams, representing the 10 provinces, plus Northern Ontario and Yukon/Northwest Territories, are contesting the 47th edition of the Mixed, which takes place from November 14-21. The teams play a round robin, which concludes Friday morning, after which the first place team advances directly to Saturday’s final, while the second and third place teams meet in a semi-final. In opening Draw 1 action, Manitoba’s Dave Boehmer of Selkirk handed the host province Ontario, skipped by Mark Bice of Sarnia, an 8-4 defeat. In other games, Quebec, skipped by Simon Hebert of Baie-Comeau, whacked Saskatchewan’s Jason Ackerman of Regina, 12-6; Prince Edward Island’s Kyle Stevenson of Charlottetown upended Matthew Blandford of St. John’s, 8-5 while New Brunswick’s Mary Jane McGuire of Fredericton had no trouble dispensing Yukon/Northwest Territories skip Wade Scoffin of Whitehorse, 9-4. McGuire is trying to become just the second female skip to win the Mixed.  Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink was the first to do so, in 2004 in Schumacher, Ontario. Ontario has won the Canadian Mixed twice since the championship began in 1964 in Toronto – in 1986 by skip Dave Van Dine in Kamloops and by skip John Epping at the 2006 edition in Whitehorse. Alberta leads all provinces with nine wins, while Manitoba and Saskatchewan are next with eight victories each. Round robin play continues on Sunday through Thursday, with draws at 9:00 am, 1:30 pm and 6:00 pm ET, with a final draw at 9:00 am on Friday, prior to the playoffs.