Yukon rinks drop to 0-1 at Canadian Masters Curling Championships
Both Yukon curling rinks competing at the 2013 Canadian Masters Curling Championship in Thunder Bay,
Both Yukon curling rinks competing at the 2013 Canadian Masters Curling Championship in Thunder Bay, Ont. this week dropped their opening games yesterday to fall to 0-1.
The men's team skipped by Watson Lake's Dave Kalles lost a tight game 6-4 to New Brunswick last night, while
Whitehorse skip Ellen Johnson dropped her match 11-8 to Saskatchewan, despite building an early 6-0 lead.
New Brunswick skip Rob Aube battled back from a 4-3 deficit in the sixth end to tie the game in the seventh, and went on to steal a deuce in the eighth to hand Kalles his first loss.
The men's team will battle out of Pool B. Kalles' rink is made up of third Pat Marcoff, second Richard Trimble and lead Clarence Jack.
Jack is a veteran of this event, and told the Star the team was formed just a month and a half ago. Together the four teammates have a lot of experience to draw from at this tournament, he explained.
"We felt we had to put a team together because we are hosting in 2015,鈥� Jack said. "My expectation is that we'll win a few games.鈥�
The Whitehorse Curling Club will host the national masters championship in 2015.
The Yukon will battle Saskatchewan (1-0) and Nova Scotia (0-1) in today's action at the Port Arthur Curling Club.
In women's action, Johnson dropped her opening match to Saskatchewan's Merle Kopach, despite building up an early lead that included scoring four in the third.
Kopach 鈥� last year's tournament champion 鈥� went on to score four in the fourth and, after Johnson scored a deuce in the fifth, four more in the sixth to tie the game at 8-all.
Kopach went on to steal a point in the seventh and two more in the eighth to take the match.
The Yukon will face B.C. (0-1) and Ontario (1-0) in today's action.
Elaine Summer is Johnson's third, Ev Pasichnyk is second and Watson Lake's Emma Donnessy is the lead of the Yukon women's team. Summer and Pasichnyk are long-time masters tournament veterans. They will battle to get out of Pool B.
Johnson, the board president of the Yukon Curling Association, said the goal of her team is to have a presence at the event in order to build connections prior to Whitehorse hosting the event in 2015.
"I'll be really excited if we win a game,鈥� she chuckled last week. "We haven't had a lot of time to curl together. Part of it was to find people with the availability to go who were also antiques.鈥�
The championship marks the first time Johnson will compete at the national level.
"Just to curl at that level is exciting to think about, and the chance to meet curlers from across the country is big for me,鈥� she said last week.
Playoffs will begin with crossover games on Saturday, with gold medal matches slated to go Sunday afternoon.
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