Alberta through to semifinal at Wheelchair Curling Championship

Alberta stole its way into the semifinal of the Canadian Wheelchair Championship with an 8-4 win over Northern Ontario today in the Page 3-4 playoff game. Bruno Yizek and his team of Jack Smart, Martin Purvis, Anne Hibbert, alternate Wendy Frazier and coach Andy Jones from the Calgary Curling Club stole five points on the way to the win.

Alberta second Martin Purvis in action at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Ottawa (Photo Morgan Daw)

For Northern Ontario, the first four ends were a frustrating exercise in chasing. Skip Gino Sonego and his team of Doug Dean, Richard Dawid, Lola Graham, Sarah Lashbrook and coach Michael Bergquist from the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay just couldn’t get any offence going against the perfect draw weight and hitting precision of Alberta. Yizek opened with a single, then stole the next three ends, including three points in the fourth, to take a commanding 6-0 lead into the break. In the fifth, Northern Ontario was able to get on the board with a deuce, and stole two more in the sixth when Yizek’s final draw attempt slid too far. But Alberta bounced back with two points and led 8-4 heading into the final end, eventually running Sonego out of rocks and moving one game closer to the final. Alberta will meet British Columbia’s Gary Cormack in the semifinal on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. EDT. The winner of that game will play Quebec in the championship final at 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday afternoon. Draw results and other event information will be available at www.curling.ca and https://www.curling.ca/championships/wheelchair Live-streaming of games is available at: www.ustream.tv/channel/wcblog2.