Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
IN THE MIX 鈥� Yukon men鈥檚 skip George Hilderman, back left, watches as lead Richard Trimble, centre, and second Clarence Jack, right, sweep a stone during action at the 2015 Canadian Masters Curling Championship Monday.
Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
SQUEAKING THROUGH 鈥� Marg White of the Yukon鈥檚 host team delivers a rock during action Tuesday night.
Two Yukon rinks sneak into championship pool
Two of the three rinks representing the territory at the Canadian masters event still have a shot at the title of national champion.
Two of the three rinks representing the territory at the Canadian masters event still have a shot at the title of national champion.
The Yukon men鈥檚 team (2-3), led by George Hilderman, qualified for championship pool play last night, despite a 9-6 loss to New Brunswick鈥檚 Brian Mackin.
The team 鈥� which includes Gord Zealand (third), Clarence Jack (second) and Richard Trimble (lead) 鈥� finished ahead of Saskatchewan (1-4) and Quebec (0-5) to take fourth in Pool A.
The teams that qualified for championship play will now cross-over to play the top four rinks from the opposing pool with the best foursomes heading into the semifinals and championship games this weekend.
In women鈥檚 play, the host team led by Pat Banks (1-4) also squeezed into the championship pool by the slimmest of margins.
Down 5-2 to New Brunswick heading into the seventh end of their final game in the round robin last night, the host team caught fire, scoring a deuce in the seventh and stealing a single in the eighth to tie things up at 5-5 and force extras.
Banks managed to steal a single in the extra end against Monique Taylor for a 6-5 win, vaulting the hosts into a tie for fourth in their pool with New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
As there are no tiebreaker games in masters curling, it came down to a cumulative total of shots to the button 鈥� won by the hosts.
鈥淏efore each game, one member of each team draws to the button,鈥濃�圔anks explained. 鈥淓ach player has to do it once during competition. Five draws meant one player had an additional draw. The worst throw for each team is thrown out and the rest are accumulated. Lowest score wins.鈥�
The cumulative draws by Banks, Marg White (third), Val Whelan (second) and Lorraine Stick (lead) beat out the efforts of New Brunswick and the 2014 masters women鈥檚 champions from Saskatchewan, led by Merle Kopach.
Meanwhile, Ellen Johnson鈥檚 Yukon women鈥檚 rink went winless through its first five games and will play on in hopes of improving the Yukon鈥檚 ranking for the 2016 masters championship in Nova Scotia.
Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Be the first to comment