Saskatchewan leading the way!

Saskatchewan men and women remain undefeated as Championship Pool play begins Thursday at 2023 Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships

Team Saskatchewan is riding high at the 2023 Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships, hosted at the Vernon Curling Club in B.C., as both Nancy Martin (6-0; Martensville) and Bruce Korte (6-0; Saskatoon) finished pool play with an unblemished record. 

And with pool play concluding on Wednesday evening, both Saskatchewan reps are graduating through to Championship Pool play at the top of their class.  

Awaiting Saskatchewan, as well as the remaining top three teams in each pool, are crossover games against teams from the other pool, while the teams that didn’t make the cut will go to the Seeding Pool.  

While a glimmering 6-0 record is fantastic, there’s still plenty left to play for. All teams maintain their win-loss records carrying through to the Championship Pool and Seeding Pool, so every game remains important.  

It’s a fact that skip Nancy Martin is embracing, as her Martensville Curling Club squadron of vice-skip Deanna Doig, second Nancy Inglis and lead Cathy Inglis needed some extra-end, last stone heroics to secure a 6-5 win over Alberta’s Atina Ford-Johnson (4-2; Calgary) on Wednesday. Facing an Alberta counter in the eight-foot, Martin came up clutch with the final stone of game, drawing the four-foot to secure the win. 

It hasn’t always been a smooth road, but Martin continues to play to the strengths of her team. 

“Missed a few earlier that I’d like back,” said Martin. “And, sometimes, you just have to dig deep and make that last one. The girls stayed patient and guided it right down there, so it was great.” 

Saskatchewan women have claimed the last five Canadian senior women’s titles, all skipped by Martin’s former teammate Sherry Anderson. Martin has the opportunity to make it a record sixth consecutive crown for Saskatchewan, but she isn’t letting the jacket on her back define her play at the 2023 Everest Seniors. 

“I think Sherry has her own legacy,” said Martin. “We’re going to try and do our own thing.” 

On the men’s side, skip Bruce Korte echoed Martin’s measured approach on how to maintain success in the Championship Pool after closing out a 7-1 win over Alberta’s James Pahl (1-5; Edmonton) on Wednesday. 

“We expected to have a good chance of being at the top,” said Korte. “But there’s so much work that has to be done. And curling is a fickle game and it’s easy to just lose a game here or there, so we’re definitely pleased, but definitely know there’s a lot of work that has to happen.” 

Korte already has a Canadian senior men’s gold medal in his trophy cabinet, winning the top prize in 2019, but never had the opportunity to sport a Team Canada jacket when the subsequent world senior championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Korte is using the missed opportunity to compete at a world championship as motivation on the ice in Vernon. 

“We feel we have some unfinished business,” Korte said. “We want to have another shot at that because we didn’t get the experience. It’s motivating, but we try to not let that be ‘the goal’. It’s mostly that we want to play well and keep getting better every game.” 

Joining Korte in the Championship Pool on the men’s side, in order, is Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming (5-1; Halifax), British Columbia’s Wes Craig (5-1; Duncan), Manitoba’s Dave Boehmer (4-2; Petersfield), Québec’s François Roberge (4-2; Saint-Romuald), New Brunswick’s Mike Kennedy (4-2; Moncton), Prince Edward Island’s Philip Gorveatt (4-2; Montague), and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mark Noseworthy (3-3; St. John’s). 

Meanwhile in women’s play, Championship Pool berths have been earned by Saskatchewan’s Nancy Martin, Ontario’s Susan Froud (5-1; Alliston), British Columbia’s Diane Gushulak (5-1; New Westminster), Québec’s Chantal Osborne (5-1; Thurso), Alberta’s Atina Ford-Johnson, Nova Scotia’s Andrea Saulnier (4-2; Kentville), Manitoba’s Joelle Brown (3-3; Winnipeg), and the Northwest Territories’ Sharon Cormer (3-3; Yellowknife). 

After the Championship Pool round robin wraps up on Friday, Dec. 8, the playoffs will start Saturday, Dec. 9, at 8:30 a.m. (all times Pacific) with the semifinals, pairing the first-seeded team against the fourth-seeded team and the second- and third-ranked teams in the second semifinal.  

The winners advance to their respective gold-medal final, while the losers will play for bronze. The men’s medal games will be at 12:30 p.m. and the women’s medal games commence at 3:30 p.m. 

Live scoring updates for the 2023 Everest Canadian Seniors are available by CLICKING HERE. For event information, including team lineups and draw times, CLICK HERE.    

Live-streaming coverage of selected games at the 2023 Everest Canadian Senior Championships will be available on Curling Canada’s streaming platform, Curling Canada + as well as on TSN+.