After three days of round-robin play at the 2019 Canadian Wheelchair Championship, team Alberta’s Jack Smart holds a perfect 4-0 record after defeating Saskatchewan’s Donna Ackerman 9-3 in Draw 5 on Sunday. Alberta becomes the only undefeated team and has secured a spot in the playoffs.
In other action on Sunday morning, Manitoba’s Dennis Thiessen scored a 9-1 victory over New Brunswick’s Mike Fitzgerald in six ends, improving Manitoba’s record to 2-2 and keeping a playoff berth in sight. Saskatchewan’s Marie Wright picked up a win over British Columbia’s Gerry Austgarden 10-4 to maintain her position near the top of Pool A with a 3-1 record. The second B.C. team, skipped by last year’s bronze-medal winner the Darryl Neighbour, picked up a win over Nova Scotia 8-2 after seven ends to improve to 2-2. And Northern Ontario’s Doug Dean from the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay picked up his first win with a 5-3 victory over Quebec’s second-seed team skipped by Claude Brunet.
Draw Six saw both previously undefeated Ontario teams surrender their first losses. Jim Armstrong and his City View Club team lost 6-3 to Northern Ontario’s Dean, while Ontario’s second-seeded team skipped by Chris Rees gave up their first loss, 8-2 to Saskatchewan’s Ackerman, who ended the day with a 2-2 record, while Rees drops to 3-1.
Other games in the afternoon draw saw Newfoundland and Labrador pick up their second win, 8-4 over Quebec’s second-seeded team skipped by Brunet. Quebec’s top-seeded Benoit Lessard picked up a 6-2 win over B.C.’s Austgarden and now has a 2-2 record, while Austgarden slips down to 1-3.
Pool play continues on Monday with the last three draws, at 10 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. EDT.
The teams will play six round-robin games, and the top three teams in each pool will advance to the playoffs — the two pool-winners will go straight to the semifinals, set for Tuesday at 7 p.m., while the second- and third-place teams will meet in cross-over quarter-finals (second in Pool A vs. third in Pool B; second in Pool B vs. third in Pool A) Tuesday at 10 a.m.
The gold- and bronze-medal games will take place Wednesday, May 1, at noon.
The complete draw is available by CLICKING HERE. For live scores and standings during the event, CLICK HERE.