Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships ready to rock
- Alberta Host second Warren Fleury (right) throws a stone while teammate Mike McMullan (left) looks on at 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships at the Jasper Place Curling Club on Monday, March 21, 2011. Photograph by Trevor Robb.
By Trevor Robb
JASPER PLACE — Teams from all over Canada descended on the Jasper Place Curling club Monday night to kick start the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships.
The evening began with the opening ceremonies as teams lined up on the ice beside their respective provincial flags to listen to event organizers and sponsors officially open the week-long tournament.
The tournament is made of 10 teams from across Canada, with two teams from Alberta, in honour of being the host province and two teams from Ontario.
Bruno Yizek skips the provincial winning Albertan team while Cliff Nuspl skips the host Alberta team who lost to the Yizek squad in the final game at provincials earlier in the season.
The round robin portion of the tournament starts today and goes until Friday. Tiebreakers will be decided on Friday evening and playoffs start Saturday. The semi-final is scheduled for 9:30 a.m and the final is scheduled for 2:00 p.m on Sunday.
- Ten teams from across Canada helped kick off the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships at the Jasper Place Curling Club on Monday, March 21, 2011. Photograph by Trevor Robb.
For the past four years the reigning championship team has come from British Columbia, last year by the host B.C team.
This year’s British Columbia team got off to a good start yesterday as they dispatched of Saskatchewan in nine ends 6-4.
Gary Cormack skiped the British Columbia team and was a member of the 2010 winning team. Cormack and his teammates found themselves down by two going into the eighth end but it was two-straight, two-point ends that catapulted the team passed a stunned Saskatchewan squad.
All four other games were decided in the seventh end as the host Team from Alberta squeaked out a 7-5 win over team Ontario. The Host Team dominated Ontario through six ends and were up 7-2 before Ontario scored three to inch them closer.
Team Manitoba had a similar explosion of offence in the seventh end as they counted four points to defeat the Northern Ontario team in seven ends 9-5.
The game between Nova Scotia and Quebec was much closer as the two teams went into the seventh end tied at five a piece, but a single point in the seventh by Nova Scotia cemented their victory.
In the only blow-out of the evening, team Alberta easily handled Newfoundland and Labrador 11-1. Alberta consistently tallied points in every end leading up to a scoreless seventh.
Games start again Tuesday at 1 p.m. Take a look at the game times and the updated tournament bracket.
For continuous updates follow me on Twitter: @TrevARobb and follow the official 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship twitter page: @11Wheelies.
The tournament is made of 10 teams from across Canada, with two teams from Alberta, in honour of being the host province and two teams from Ontario.