Quebec steals a win to open Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

The first day of competition at the 2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship is complete in Boucherville, Que., with last year’s champion – Benoit Lessard of Quebec – coming from behind to steal a 6-5 win over Nova Scotia’s George Horning. Lessard of Magog, Que., along with teammates Carl Marquis, Sébastien Boisvert, Johanne Daly and coach Germain Tremblay, got off to slow start against Horning and his team from the Lakeshore Curling Club in Sackville, N.S., (vice Laughie Rutt, second Steve Parfitt, lead Paige Fougere, alternate Steve Auld and coach Stew Slauenwhite). Horning stole two points early and led 5-3 after seven ends, but the game turned around in the eighth. With three Quebec counters in the rings, Horning missed his final draw, allowing Lessard to steal three for the 6-5 win.
Quebec's Carl Marquis in action at the 2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Boucherville, Quebec (Photo Morgan Daw)

Quebec’s Carl Marquis in action at the 2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Boucherville, Quebec (Photo Morgan Daw)

In other Draw 1 action, Saskatchewan’s Darwin Bender stole two ends to defeat Alberta’s Jack Smart, 7-3; Ontario’s Mike Munro stole five points in the last two ends for a 9-5 win over New Brunswick’s Michael Fitzgerald; Northern Ontario’s Gino Sonego defeated Newfoundland and Labrador’s Joanne MacDonald, 9-5; and Manitoba’s Dennis Thiessen, gold medallist at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games, scored three points in the sixth end, but it wasn’t enough to catch British Columbia’s Darryl Neighbour, who scored two in the eighth for the 9-6 win. Action at the Club de curling Boucherville continues on Tuesday, starting at 10 a.m. ET. Live streaming of the event is available at https://www.ustream.tv/channel/wcblog2
Draw results and other event information is available at www.curling.ca and www.curling.ca/2014wheelchair-en.
Since the inaugural Canadian championship in 2004, British Columbia has four titles – in 2007 (skip Darryl Neighbour), 2008 and 2009 (skip Jim Armstrong) and 2010 (skip Gary Cormack). Team Canada (skip Chris Dawe) has three victories (2004-2006) while Manitoba (2011) , Saskatchewan (2012) and Quebec (2013) have each won once.