A Nova Scotia Upset!

Nova Scotia’s Alan O’Leary of the CFB Halifax CC upset previously undefeated Ontario in men’s play at the 2013 Canadian Seniors at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, PEI. Howard Rajala’s Ottawa based team had entered tonight’s play a perfect 5-0 facing Nova Scotia who, earlier in the day,  had squandered a three point lead late in the game to lose to Alberta . Unperturbed, O’Leary took one with the hammer in the first end, then stole three points in both the 2nd and 4th ends storming out to a 7-0 lead they would not relinquish ending this game 9-1 after only seven ends of play. Rajala drops to 5-1 while O’Leary joins a large group of teams tied for third place at 4-2. New Brunswick’s Wayne Tallon, who had his four game unbeaten streak stopped this morning by Rajala, also rebounded nicely in the evening draw of games with a 9-3 win over NL’s Glenn Goss. Tallon, with Mike Kennedy throwing last stones, joins Rajala in first place tie at 5-1. Goss drops to 2-4; the 2012 Canadian Seniors runner-up can ill afford any more losses. In a battle of north-south neighbours, Alberta’s Wade White kept pace with the leaders by virtue of a 9-7 win over northern neighbours from the NWT, Glen Hudy. It wasn’t without some suspense, however. Hudy scored four points in the 8th end to lead by two points. In the 9th, White grabbed a three ender right back to be one up coming home. Hudy couldn’t make the hammer work for him though, needing the button to tie the game. He rubbed a guard on his way in and the game was over. White is in that big group at 4-2 while Hudy remains winless. Manitoba’s Lois Fowler inched closer to Nova Scotia in the race to first place on the women’s side of things. Fowler parlayed a pair of three enders and a five ender crushing NWT’s Ann McKellar-Gillis 13-6. The Brandon skip, who finished third at the 2009 seniors right here in Summerside, is alone in second place at 5-1. The Yellowknife quartet drop to 2-4. After a dismal start, Yorkton, Saskatchewan’s Cathy Inglis has won three consecutive games to even her overall record at 3-3. This third win came courtesy of a 15-3 win over the still winless Nola Murphy of the host club and province. Finally, Northern Ontario’s Vicky Barrett had her playoff hopes dashed losing to BC’s Karen Lepine 9-8. Lepine left the ice earlier in the game with the team leading 7-3. She suffered a broken left wrist prior to the opening draw. Barrett roared back with two in the 7th and three in the 9th sandwiched around a single by BC. Tied coming home, Lorraine Jeffries, now skipping, had to make a double take-out and roll to full eight foot for the win which she made in great fashion! Barrett’s record is even at 3-3 while BC improves to 2-4. All results can be found at here. The draw schedule can be found here. The list of teams participating in this seniors championships can be found here. Statistics for previous games played in the round robin can be found here. Play continues all week with the championship finals for both genders scheduled for Sunday, March 24 at 10:00 am EST. The winners will represent Canada at the 2014 World Seniors at a location yet to be announced.