Aiming for rare repeat!

Nova Scotia men looking to defend title at 2024 Everest Canadian Seniors

It’s been nearly three decades since a team has won back-to-back men’s gold medals at the Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships, and latest to attempt it will start its title defence Sunday.

That’s when Nova Scotia’s Team Paul Flemming will hit the ice for its first game at the 2024 Everest Canadian Seniors at Curl Moncton in Moncton, N.B.

Flemming, vice-skip Martin Gavin and second Kris Granchelli are back from the 2023 Canadian championship team that went on to win gold at the 2024 World Senior Championships in Oestersund, Sweden; Peter Burgess, the fourth member of that team, moved to Quebec, and has been replaced by new lead Stuart MacLean.

The Bluenosers, representing the Halifax Curling Club, will kick off their title defence Sunday at 4 p.m. (all times Atlantic) against Saskatchewan’s Team Randy Bryden of Regina.

They will be looking to become the first repeat men’s champs since Ontario’s Team Bob Turcotte won gold in both 1996 and 1997.

But Nova Scotia will have plenty of competition in its bid for back-to-back Canadian titles — not the least of which will come from the home team skipped by former Canadian and World senior champion Mike Kennedy. The New Brunswick champs, representing the Grand Falls and host Curl Moncton clubs, are rounded out by vice-skip Marc Lecocq, second Vance Lecocq and lead Grant Odishaw — the same crew that finished fourth at the 2023 Everest Canadian Seniors in Vernon, B.C. Kennedy, with a different team, won the 2013 Canadian and 2014 World senior titles.

Then there are the 2022 Canadian and 2023 World senior gold-medallists from Ontario — the Ottawa lineup of skip Howard Rajala, vice-skip Rich Moffatt, second Chris Fulton, lead Paul Madden and alternate Phil Daniel returns intact.

And you can add ANOTHER former Canadian championship team to the mix: Manitoba’s Team Randy Neufeld from La Salle. Neufeld, vice-skip Dean Moxham, second Peter Nicholls and lead Dale Michie won the 2015 Canadian senior title and then took silver at the 2016 World Seniors. Alternate Darren Oryniak rounds out the lineup in Moncton.

That depth of Everest Canadian Seniors winning experience is contrasted on the women’s side as just one player has won a previous Canadian senior title — Team Nova Scotia lead Mary Sue Radford, who played second for Colleen Jones’ 2016 national champs who went on to win a gold at the 2017 World Seniors. The 2024 Nova Scotia team, from Halifax, is skipped by Theresa Breen.

But there is still an abundance of national and international experience in the women’s field. 

For instance, Alberta’s women’s team, with players from Okotoks, Calgary and Sherwood Park, features a pair of Olympic medallists. Skip Atina Johnston was the alternate for Sandra Schmirler’s legendary team that won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics as well as a gold at the 1997 World Women’s Championship in Bern, Switzerland. As well, lead Cori Morris played the same position for Cheryl Bernard’s silver-medal team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This team finished fourth last year in Vernon, B.C.

As well, Team Quebec vice-skip Isabelle Néron (the team from Des Collines, Chicoutimi, Buckingham and St-Bruno is skipped by Luanne Waddell) won the inaugural Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship in 2013 with partner Robert Desjardins, who will skip the Quebec men’s team (Chicoutimi/Riverbend) in Moncton. Néron and Desjardins represented Canada at the 2013 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Fredericton, N.B.

And that’s notable because the winning women’s and men’s teams this year in Moncton will go on to represent Canada at the 2025 World Senior Curling Championships April 26-May 3 in Fredericton, which also is hosting the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Championship at the same time.

Fourteen men’s and 14 women’s teams (representing the 10 provinces plus Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon) will compete and have been seeded into two pools per gender, playing a round robin within their pool through Wednesday.

The top four in each pool then advance to the Championship Pool for crossover games against teams from the other pool, while the remaining teams go to the Seeding Pool. 

After the Championship Pool round robin wraps up on Friday, Dec. 6, the playoffs will start Saturday, Dec. 7, at 8:30 a.m. 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.

New Brunswick will be represented by Team Shelly Graham from Fredericton in the women’s competition.

New Brunswick has won four Canadian senior championships. The three men’s championships were won by Team Wayne Tallon (with Kennedy in the lineup) in 2013 at Summerside, P.E.I., Team David Sullivan in 1994 at Moose Jaw, Sask., and in 1987 by Team Jim Murphy in Montreal.

The New Brunswick senior women have captured one national title, courtesy of Team Heidi Hanlon at Digby, N.S. in 2011.

Ontario leads all Member Associations with 13 Canadian senior men’s championships since the event’s origin in 1965. Ontario and Saskatchewan lead the way with 11 senior women’s championship victories apiece.

The Canadian senior men’s championship first occurred in 1965, with the first event played at Port Arthur, Ont. The Canadian senior women’s championship began in 1973 at Ottawa.

Live scoring updates for the 2024 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 2024 Everest Canadian Senior Championships will be available on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel as well as on TSN+.