SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — New Brunswick’s Wayne Tallon moved into the final of the 2013 Canadian senior curling championships Friday.
Tallon advanced with a 7-4 victory over Manitoba’s Bob Sigurdson, and his 11-6 victory in the late draw against British Columbia gave him a 10-1 record to finish the round robin.
"I’m so proud of the way our team has been playing throughout the week, making a lot of great shots," said Tallon. "When we’ve gotten in trouble, the team has not let down. The way that they have performed is just unbelievable."
Tallon went on a tear in the round robin, winning six straight matches with third stone Mike Kennedy, second stone Mike Flannery and lead Wade Blanchard.
"When you go to any national championship, you at least want to get a winning record," said Tallon. "That was our first goal and once that was taken care of, the playoffs were our second goal.
"Now, we’ve gone the third step… a bye to the (Sunday) final."
Alberta’s Wade White (9-2) secured a berth to Saturday’s semifinal with a 9-6 win over Northern Ontario. White will play the winner of a tiebreaker between P.E.I skip Rod MacDonald and Ontario’s Howard Rajala.
MacDonald had a chance to advance to the semi but lost 7-6 in 10 ends to Glenn Goss of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Rajala meanwhile stayed alive by scoring four points in the eighth and final end to hammer Quebec 10-2.
Also in the late draw, Manitoba downed Nova Scotia 11-8 and Saskatchewan battered Northwest Territories 10-3.
In women’s play, Colleen Pinkney of Nova Scotia finished the round robin at 10-1 with her first loss of the tournament. She fell 8-4 to Manitoba’s Lois Fowler, who forced a tiebreaker with Quebec’s Catherine Derick (7-4).
Derick needed a win to move into the semis, but lost 7-6 to British Columbia. The winner of the tiebreaker will play Alberta’s Deb Santos (8-3), who defeated Northern Ontario 9-5 to advance to Saturday’s semi.
While Derick’s team can take comfort in knowing they defeated Fowler on Thursday night, she said it’s still not an ideal situation.
"We knew that destiny was in our own hands," said Derick. "We knew if we won that game we’d be in second place, but now we’re in a tiebreaker tomorrow morning."
Alberta meanwhile secured the semifinal berth after cruising past Vicki Barrett. Santos led 7-2 after five ends, and Barrett conceded after Santos added another two points in the ninth.
Despite the win, Santos said she didn’t feel her team played its best game.
"We didn’t curl as good as we have in some games," she said. "The ice was a bit tricky, and we hadn’t played on that sheet before. But I think we played fairly well."
In other matches, Newfoundland and Labrador hammered P.E.I. 14-2, Ontario romped past Northwest Territories 12-3, and New Brunswick beat Saskatchewan 9-4.