MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Things are looking as positive as can be for Saskatchewan 1 as they attempt to defend their crown at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship currently underway at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre.
Gil Dash and his Sask 1 rink of third Marie Wright, second Moose Gibson and lead Sheryl Pederson improved to 5-0 on Wednesday afternoon thanks to an 11-1 win over British Columbia’s Gerry Austgarden during the tournament’s sixth draw.
The reigning national champions wasted little time getting things going, picking up points in each of the first four ends -- including a deuce in the third and three in the fourth -- to take a 7-0 lead. Austgarden got one back in the fifth, but a three-spot in the seventh would see things come to an early end.
It’s been a relatively comfortable run thus far for Dash and crew, as after their 11-1 win over Sask 2’s Rod Pederson to open the tournament Sunday, they immediately followed up with a 12-3 win against Ontario 2’s Chris Rees in their lone game Monday.
A four-spot in the first end against Ontario 1’s Doug Morris set the stage for a 6-4 win in their first game Tuesday, and the evening draw would see another commanding win as they took a 9-2 victory over New Brunswick’s Mike Fitzgerald.
Dash and Wright are each shooting for their fifth national title, while Gibson is going for his fourth and Pederson her first.
Sask 2 has had an up-and-down run so far, with Pederson, third Pete Andrews, second Mark Kennedy, lead Zahra Ehsani and lead Tara-Lee Hess sitting at 2-4 through their six draws.
After falling to Dash, Pederson dropped a 10-4 decision to Austgarden in the early draw Monday before putting the shoe on the other foot and cruising to a 14-1 win over Manitoba’s Dennis Thiessen. That win was the first in wheelchair curling for all four players other than Pederson.
Sask 2 then got back to .500 with a narrow 4-3 win over Alberta 1’s Martin Purvis in their first game Tuesday but have run into bad luck since, falling 8-6 to Quebec’s Carl Marquis in the evening draw and then dropping their first game Wednesday 10-5 to Alberta’s Don Kuchylema.
That outing saw Pederson trailing 4-1 through four ends when a four-spot in the fifth saw Sask 2 take a 5-4 lead. Alberta had everything go their way from there, though, taking two in the sixth, stealing another in the seventh and three more in the eighth.
The evening draw Wednesday sees Alberta 2 (2-3) take on New Brunswick (0-5), Alberta 1 (2-4) facing Ontario 2 (2-4), Sask 1 (5-0) battling Manitoba (3-2), Sask 2 (2-4) taking on Ontario 1 (2-3) and Newfoundland (5-0) facing Quebec (3-3).
Action continues with draws at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by the final two draws of the round robin at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday. The top four teams advance to the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the gold medal game at 2:30 p.m.
Follow along with all the scores at www.curling.ca and tickets are available at www.sasktix.ca.
