Northern Ontario taken down by Alberta

NEWS RELEASE

CANADIAN CURLING ASSOCIATION

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Ontario, Saskatchewan playoff-bound Two more teams are playoff-bound at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Ontario's Glenn Howard and Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons both picked up victories in Draw 14 Wednesday night at the MTS Centre to improve to 8-1 in the 12-team round-robin to join Alberta's Kevin Martin in the Page playoffs.

Ontario opened the game with a stolen deuce, then scored four more in the third end and sailed home with a 10-3 triumph over Prince Edward Island's Peter Gallant.

That set up a big game Thursday morning between Alberta (9-0) and Ontario.

"We'd like to come out, have one our best games and take Mr. Martin down," said Howard. "I think it's two of the best teams playing today, equal at all positions. I think it's going to be a great game."

The Islanders dropped to 3-6 with the loss.

Saskatchewan, meanwhile, recovered from an early 3-2 deficit to beat Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories 7-4. The loss dropped the Territories to 2-7.

Alberta kept its perfect record intact with an 8-4 win over Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden. Martin took control of the game with two in the fourth end and a stolen deuce in the fifth, dropping Northern Ontario to 2-7.

And in the other Draw 14 game, B.C.'s Bob Ursel pulled into a tie for the fourth and final playoff berth with an 8-4 win over Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk. The result left B.C., Manitoba and Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue, who had a bye for Draw 14, all tied with 5-4 records.

Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard (3-6), New Brunswick's James Grattan (2-7) and Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse (2-7) all had byes in Draw 14.

The first- and second-place teams at the end of round-robin play Thursday night will meet in the Page playoff one-two game on Friday while the third- and fourth-place teams also will meet Friday (times TBA). The winner of the one-two game will advance directly to Sunday's championship game (6:30 p.m., all times Eastern) on CBC. The loser will play the winner of the three-four game in Saturday's semifinal at 2:30 p.m. on CBC.

Play at the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Thursday, with draws scheduled for 9:30 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; all three draws will be on TSN, while curltv.com also will show the morning draw. ***********************************************************