Team Saskatchewan wrapped up pool play at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship with a pair of big wins on Wednesday at the Swift Current Curling Club, and will advance to the championship round at the event as the top team in Pool A.
The hometown team of Shaun Meachem, Kelly Schafer and Chris and Teejay Haichert started the day with a tight game against unbeaten Ontario in the morning draw. Scott McDonald and his rink from St. Thomas started with a deuce in the first end, but Saskatchewan responded with two of their own in the second. Ontario scored one in the third and after a blank in the fourth, Meachem picked up two in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. McDonald got the lead back with two in the sixth and forced Saskatchewan to a single in the seventh to take the hammer coming home with the game tied at 5-5, but Meachem and company stole one in the eighth to take the 6-5 victory.
In the evening draw against Trevor Bonot and Northern Ontario, the two teams traded singles in the first and second and deuces in the third and fourth ends to play to a 3-3 tie at the break, but Saskatchewan opened the game up with three in the fifth end and then stole four unanswered points in the sixth and seventh ends to win 11-3.
Saskatchewan finished in a tie with Nova Scotia and Ontario with identical 5-1 records, but the Meachem rink earned the number one seed in Pool A based on Last Stone Draw standings. Prince Edward Island finished fourth at 2-4 and will also move on to the championship round.
In Pool B, Kyle Kurz and Team Manitoba finished first with a perfect 6-0 record while Northwest Territories (5-1), Alberta (4-2) and New Brunswick (3-3) also qualify.
Those teams will carry their records into the championship round and will play the four teams from their opposite pool. The top four teams in the round-robin will advance to the semi-finals on Saturday.
The championship round begins Thursday with Saskatchewan facing New Brunswick at 12:30pm and Alberta at 7:30pm, and then on Friday, the team will take on Northwest Territories at 12:30pm and Manitoba at 7:30pm.
The seeding round games with the teams that did not qualify for the championship round will be played at 9:00am and 4:00pm on Thursday and 4:00pm on Friday.
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