Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
ROCKIN’ OUT – Manitoba’s Nancy Scammell sends a curling stone hurtling down the ice during 2015 Canadian Masters Curling Championship action at the Whitehorse Curling Club this week.
Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
UNDEFEATED – Manitoba skip Pat Malanchuk eyes up a stone during masters action this week.
Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
EYES ONE UP – Alberta’s Don Scheidegger throws during a matchup versus Ontario Wednesday afternoon at the Whitehorse Curling Club.
Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
ON TO THE PLAYOFFS – Ontario skip Wayne Gowan is one of eight men’s teams heading to the championship pool.
Malanchuk, Ogden, Westcott rinks still unbeaten
Three curling teams remain undefeated entering day four of the 2015 Canadian Masters Curling Championship in Whitehorse.
Three curling teams remain undefeated entering day four of the 2015 Canadian Masters Curling Championship in Whitehorse.
Both Manitoba rinks – led by Pat Malanchuk and Ron Westcott – are 5-0, as is Steve Ogden’s team from Nova Scotia.
Malanchuk’s rink, out of the St. Vital Curling Club in Winnipeg, is the only unbeaten women’s team remaining at the national masters tournament.
The Manitoba rink – which includes Karen Sheldon (third), Nancy Scammell (second) and Ruth Wiebe (lead) – has beaten all comers so far, including Nova Scotia 6-4, the Yukon host team 12-5, Alberta 8-2, New Brunswick 7-5 and Saskatchewan 8-3.
This morning, the Manitoba women’s rink improved to 6-0 with a 6-3 defeat over Quebec in the first game of championship pool play.
Other women’s teams in championship play from Pool A include Nova Scotia (4-1), Alberta (3-2) and the Yukon’s host team (1-4), which qualified via a tiebreaking method of cumulative draws to the button. See story below.
Coming out of Pool B are Ontario (4-1), British Columbia (4-1), Prince Edward Island (3-2) and Quebec (3-2).
Meanwhile, Westcott’s men’s team from the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg has defeated British Columbia 7-2, Saskatchewan 10-6, Yukon 9-3, New Brunswick 6-4 and Quebec 8-4 to claim top spot in Pool A.
Westcott’s rink also includes Ken Dusablon (third), Bob Boughey (second) and Howard Restall (lead).
It appears Westcott’s Manitoba rink is on a collision course with Ogden’s Nova Scotia squad, also 5-0 to sit atop Pool B.
Representing the Truro Curling Club, Ogden is accompanied by Brad Meisner (third), Peter Neily (second) and Jamie Barr (lead).
The team eked out a 5-2 win over Alberta to start their tournament, and has since defeated Northern Ontario 9-2, Newfoundland 7-4, Ontario 8-2 and Northwest Territories 6-1.
“We thought we had a good chance of making the championship round,” the 61-year-old Ogden told the Star yesterday. “We’ve been playing fairly consistently without a lot of unforced errors.”
Ogden’s group has spent the last four years occasionally playing together.
His front-end spent last week at the senior nationals in Edmonton, with Barr emerging as a first team all-star.
Ogden is one of the masters players with Brier experience, leading Nova Scotia to a 7-4 record in 1983.
He said the sport remains competitive at the masters level.
“There’s a lot of good players here,” he said. “Guys aren’t giving out free games.”
Also, Ogden said the Whitehorse Curling Club is the best facility he’s ever played in – bar none.
“This is without a doubt the nicest club I’ve ever been to, and will ever be to,” he said. “The ice and the view are both world class. We’re having a great time.”
He said his one concern with the event is the lack of a Page playoff.
“You could have a really good record and lose one game and you’re out of the gold medal game,” he said.
Also coming out of Pool A are B.C. (4-1), New Brunswick (3-2) and Yukon (2-3).
Qualifying alongside Nova Scotia in Pool B are Northern Ontario (3-2), Ontario (3-2) and Alberta (2-3).
To follow along, visit https://masters2015.wordpress.com/.
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Comments (3)
Up 0 Down 0
Pat Banks on Apr 22, 2015 at 8:51 pm
Good point Bill, thinking on it, appreciate your comment, but would require some team practice on previous Sunday. I will pass your comments to National Committee for consideration for future events, and reply personally.
Up 2 Down 0
Bill Weppler on Apr 5, 2015 at 1:21 am
If you play 2 games (rather then one) on the first day (Monday in this years event) then the 9th game (for Teams in the Championship Round) would be Friday morning. Still time to have 1-2 & 3-4 games that day followed by Semi on Saturday and Final on Sunday. No extra days required. We would rather see a full round robin event without a Page Playoff. No extra days required either. Final round robin game (the 11th in 12 team event) Saturday morning followed by semi that afternoon and final on Monday. A big Thank You to the Host Committee for such a great event this year - Team Saskatchewan Men.
Up 3 Down 0
Pat Banks on Apr 4, 2015 at 2:24 am
As 2015 event co-chair, I am pleased that players enjoyed our club & thank visitors for their comments. Our local sponsors and volunteers have been outstanding and responsible for much of the success of 2015 Masters. Those of us that play here regularly and travel 'outside' to play, know we are spoiled with our incredible ice that our wonderful ice makers provide. Over the years I have played in many clubs with good ice and bad ice, but nowhere compares to Whitehorse. Those of us who live here also value our scenic vistas.
As a member of National Masters Committee I am aware that there are always a few players who ask about a Page System, but this adds extra days to the National Event. This event is solely funded by local host sponsorship and players. Curling Canada sanctions the event, but provide no financial assistance. Since players pay their own expenses to attend it is always a fine line between adding those days to competition and deterring people from entering because of expense to them and the host site incurring extra days of considerable ice costs. The Page System was devised for National televised events, as Brier and Scotties, but it would take a majority request for it to be considered for Masters. Different years have different teams competing so it is difficult to know where to go with this.