Nova Scotia’s Sangster in the hunt at Seniors

The race to the Championship Pool round at the 2015 Everest Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championship at the Thistle CC in Edmonton is getting very interesting after this morning’s play. Nova Scotia’s Wayne Sangster put Northern Ontario’s Al Hackner in a precarious position with a 9-2 win in a game conceded after the 6th end.  The team from Truro broke a tie game open with three points in the 5th end then stole four more points in the 6th end when Hackner’s draw for a single came up light.  Sangster is now tied atop Pool A at 3-1 with Alberta’s Glen Hansen. Hackner is 0-3, in danger of not advancing to the Championship Pool. Hansen’s Hinton CC foursome scored five points in the 2nd end against the Yukon’s Gord Zealand followed up by two points in the 4th and three points in the 6th end for a 10-2 win. Yukon is winless after three starts. In the final game of Pool A, Québec’s Ted Butler scored seven unanswered points to lead NWT’s Glen Hudy 7-0 after 4 ends of play; a game eventually conceded at 7-2 after 6 ends.  Butler is 2-1 while Hudy drops to 2-2. In Pool B play, Ontario’s Jeff McCrady remained undefeated with three wins following a 7-1 thumping of BC’s Wes Craig. After a deuce in the 2nd end, the Ottawa CC crew with Brian Lewis delivering fourth stones, stole five consecutive points over the next four ends.  BC’s loss was their first and they sit at 2-1. New Brunswick’s Wayne Tallon scored an impressive victory over previously unbeaten Randy Neufeld of the La Salle CC in Manitoba. Three points in the 6th end then a steal of two in the 7th ended this one.  New Brunswick is 3-1 while Manitoba drops to 2-1. Prince Edward Island’a Rod MacDonald kept pace with the pack by virtue of a  6-3 win over Nunavut’s Ed Sattelberger. PEI is 2-2 while Nunavut is winless after four games. Pool play continues until Tuesday, March 24th. Fourteen men’s teams and 13 women’s teams (Yukon did not enter a team) are competing at this Canadian Seniors. Unlike the previous three years, when a pre-qualifying event was held to determine which two teams of gender advanced to the main draw, this year’s renewal sees all the teams seeded into two pools per gender to first play a round robin within their pool while also playing 8 end games as opposed to the 10 ends of the past. In men’s, the top four in each pool advance to the Championship Round for games against the teams from the opposite pool, while the bottom three in each go to the Seeding Pool. In women’s, the top four in each pool advance to the Championship Round for games against the teams from the opposite pool, while the bottom three in Pool A join the bottom two in Pool B for a round robin within the Seeding Pool. At the conclusion of the Championship Round on Friday, the semifinals will be held Saturday morning, March 28 at 9:30 a.m. MT, pairing 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. The winners then advance to their respective gold-medal finals at 2:30 p.m. while the losers meet in bronze-medal games at the same time. The winners of the 2015 Canadian Seniors will represent Canada at the 2016 World Senior Curling Championships, at a site and date to be announced by the World Curling Federation. Last year’s Canadian champions, skipped by Alan O’Leary of Nova Scotia and Lois Fowler of Manitoba, will be competing in this year’s World Seniors, April 18-25 at Sochi, Russia. Since the World Seniors began in 2002, Canada has won nine men’s and nine women’s titles. Draw results for the 2015 Canadian Seniors will be instantly available at www.curling.ca. For event information, visit www.curling.ca/2015seniors. This is the first year of a three-year agreement by Everest, the first nationwide funeral planning and concierge service, to be the title sponsor of the Canadian Seniors.