GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — It was an up-and-down day for Saskatchewan’s teams at the Canadian Masters Curling Championship on Thursday.
Both the Jim Nikolejsin and Cathy Inglis rinks split their two games during men’s and women’s action Grande Prairie, but both teams also still find themselves in the hunt for the overall title.
Weyburn’s Nikolejsin, third Jaime Miller, second Ray Calbow and lead Darcy Cretin first picked up their biggest win of the tournament, rolling to a 9-2 victory over New Brunswick’s Team Stewart in their final preliminary round game to advance to the championship pool.
It was a must win contest for both teams’ championship hopes, as they sat tied for fourth in Pool B with 1-3 records and the top four moved on to the next round.
New Brunswick had a 2-1 lead after the first two ends, but Nikolejsin came all the way back and then some with four in the fourth. Stewart opted to blank the fifth, but Saskatchewan stole another four in the sixth, and the teams shook hands.
Unfortunately for Nikolejsin, things didn’t go as well in their first championship pool contest as they fell 8-5 to Ontario’s Team Cochrane.
Saskatchewan got off to a good start in that one, as after the teams exchanged forces, Nikolejsin picked up one in the third and another two in the fourth for a 4-1 edge. Ontario took control of things with five in the fifth, though, and after holding Saskatchewan to one in the sixth, added another deuce in the seventh and ran Nikolejsin out of rocks in the final end for the win.
Nikolejsin continues championship pool play against Northern Ontario’s Team Gordon at 10 a.m. and P.E.I.’s Team MacAulay at 7:30 p.m. on Friday followed by Nova Scotia’s Team Robinson at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Inglis and her Yorkton rink of third Joan McCusker, second Patsy Kuspira and lead Bev Fuches find themselves in the driver’s seat when it comes to landing a spot in the top four and the women’s playoffs, as they hold a 5-1 record and sit in second place with three draws to go.
Saskatchewan opened the day against Manitoba’s Team Colwell, with the teams exchanging big ends early as Colwell opened with a three spot and Inglis immediately replied with four the next end. After Manitoba was held to one in the third, Inglis racked up another four in the fourth to lead 8-4, and they’d add another deuce in the sixth before going on to the comfortable win.
It was a tough one in the nightcap against Ontario’s Team Chilvers, where an early four-spot gave Ontario control and they’d hold a 4-2 lead at the break. Chilvers added single points the next two ended to lead 6-2 before Saskatchewan attempted a comeback, picking up a pair in the seventh and stealing one in the eighth to fall just short of the win column.
Inglis is now tied for first with Ontario at 5-1, with four teams right behind them with 4-2 records.
Inglis plays twice on Thursday as they face Northern Ontario’s Team Loney (1-5) at 10 a.m. and New Brunswick’s Team Graham (1-5) at 2:30 p.m. on Friday before closing out the round robin against Nova Scotia’s Team Saulnier (4-2) at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The top four rinks in both the men’s and women’s draw advance to the playoff beginning Saturday evening.
