New Leaders at the Mixed

Alberta’s Kurt Balderston and Saskatchewan’s Jason Ackerman now share the lead at the Canadian Mixed curling championship in Sudbury. Balderston came out on top of a Draw 10 showdown with New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud. With the score tied at four after three ends, the Alberta skip blanked the next three ends using the hammer to score three points in the 7th. The game was conceded after the 9th when Alberta notched two more points for a 9-5 win. Ackerman fought off another tough performance by Yukon’s Scott Hamilton beating the Whitehorse skip 9-5.  The score was tied at five playing the 8th end with Yukon (0-7) having advantage of last stone. The Regina foursome stole three points however, sealing the deal in the 9th with another stolen point. Both prairie teams are at 6-1 while New Brunswick drops to 6-2. Ontario’s Mark Homan drubbed Quebec’s Martin Ferland 9-3 improving the Ottawa skip’s record to 5-3 while Quebec drops to the same record. PEI’s Gallant suffered a major setback to his playoff hopes losing an extra end match to Steve Moss of the Northwest Territories 8-7. Gallant had a draw to the four foot to win the game in the 10th but came up a few inches short. Gallant is now 4-4 and Moss stays alive at 3-4. Finally, BC has increased their win streak to five straight games improving to 5-2 with an 11-2 decision over Nunavut’s Ed Sattelberger (0-7). Teams having the byes were Nova Scotia (1-5), Northern Ontario (4-3), Newfoundland & Labrador (0-6) and Manitoba (5-2). Standings www.curling.ca/championships/mixed/draw-schedule/standings/ For complete results, visit the CCA’s CurlCast www.curling.ca/championships/curlcast-1/ Draws continue throughout the week at the Sudbury Curling Club with game times each day – Saturday, November 12 to Thursday, November 17 – at 10:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The final draw is Friday, November 18th at 9:00 a.m. followed by playoffs leading to the championship final Saturday, November 19th at 1:30 p.m. (all times Eastern).