History was made in Sault Ste. Marie during the national seniors curling championships on Saturday as Sherry Anderson and Team Saskatchewan won a record fourth consecutive Canadian championship.
The team lost two of its first four games during the 2021 Everest Canadian Seniors Curling Championship, but proceeded to win the next eight in a row, including the gold medal match on Saturday at Community First Curling Centre.
“We came in at the start not playing as well as we had been playing and we dropped a couple of games early,” said Anderson. “It was nice to come out and start playing well and get to the final and we played pretty good.”
Anderson also led Team Saskatchewan to gold medals in the 2018 and 2019 World Senior Curling Championships.
Team Saskatchewan defeated Team British Columbia in the final by a score of 10-4, with the final six points coming in the final two ends — three in the seventh and a steal of three more in the eighth.
On the men’s side, Team Alberta won a close 4-3 game against Team Ontario to take gold. Alberta and Ontario each scored only singles throughout the eight ends.
“It was close. We were back and forth quite a bit. Low scoring, but they are a really good team. It could have went either way,” said Team Alberta skip Wade White.
Team Alberta curls out of Lac La Biche, Alta. and went undefeated throughout the tournament. That was a challenge in the earliest games because the team was one of many during the tournament that had luggage challenges.
“We were missing a couple of broom bags, but it was mostly our sliding it affected. When we got those it was good,” said White.
White previously led Team Alberta to a gold in the 2017 national senior’s championship and the team won gold in the 2018 World Senior Curling Championship.
In the men’s bronze match up, Team Saskatchewan defeated Team Quebec 8-4 and Team Nova Scotia won third place for the women versus Team Alberta with a score of 9 to 2.
Both the women’s and men’s winners were both expected to play in the Canadian championships in March of 2020 in Portage La Prairie, Man., but that tournament was cancelled in the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was disappointing not to be able to go and keep going,” said Anderson of the cancelled championships in 2020. “Then you had COVID hit and a couple of years off and you think, ‘can we get back into that mode?’ and not playing as much, but I am really impressed by how we played this week, we played really well as a team.”
Anderson said there was some concern coming into the tournament because of rising case numbers in Sault Ste. Marie.
“It was a little bit, but with everybody being vaccinated and cautious I think it’s quite safe,” said Anderson.
A banquet that usually accompanies the tournament had to be cancelled because of increased restrictions in the area due to the rising case numbers. And the number of spectators allowed for each game had to be cut by half
Despite the challenges like lost bags and reduced crowd capacity, Anderson said the tournament was really well run.
“The ice conditions were great. I didn’t know what to expect coming in because that is a lot games on the ice and sometimes with eight sheets going, it’s hard to maintain them and keep them nice for the whole competition. The ice maker here did a phenomenal job, we really liked the ice and obviously it was conducive to the way we played,” she said.