2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship
Montreal, Quebec
Semi Final
Sunday, May 4th - 10:00 AM (EASTERN)
* INDICATES HAMMER IN FIRST END (LAST ROCK ADVANTAGE)
| Manitoba (Thiessen) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | X | X | X | | 8 | |
* | Ontario (Munro) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | X | X | | 3 | |
Final
Sunday, May 4th - 2:30 PM (EASTERN)
REFRESHING...
| Manitoba (Thiessen) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | X | X | | 8 | |
* | Quebec (Lessard) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | X | X | X | | 5 |
Manitoba’s Dennis Thiessen and his Assiniboine Curling Club team are the 2014
Canadian wheelchair curling champions after stealing four ends on the way to an
8-5 victory over the defending champion, Quebec’s Benoit Lessard, on Sunday
afternoon in Boucherville, Que.
2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Champions, Manitoba:
Dennis Thiessen, Mark Wherrett, coach Tom Wherrett, Jamie Anseeuw, Melissa
Lecuyer (Photo Morgan Daw)
“What an unbelievable feeling,” said Thiessen who was backed by third Mark
Wherrett, second Melissa Lecuyer, lead Jamie Anseeuw and coach Tom Wherrett. “We
just kept the pressure on and took advantage of a few misses. It feels great.
I’m so proud of my team.”
The game started aggressively, with lots of rocks in play and both skips
showing confidence in calling the difficult shots. Manitoba led 7-2 after five
ends and appeared to be in control of the game, but Quebec fought back in the
sixth. Lessard, made a delicate takeout to score three and climb back to within
two points.
But it wasn’t enough. In the eighth, with two Manitoba rocks in the rings,
Lessard’s first rock wrecked on a guard, ending Quebec’s hopes for a repeat
title and giving Thiessen his second Canadian championship since 2011.
Lessard and his team of vice Carl Marquis, second Sébastien Boisvert, lead
Johanne Daly and coach Germain Tremblay finished with an 8-1 record at the top
of the standings after the round robin, but Thiessen made it to the finals the
hard way.
After finishing in a four-way tie for third, he won a tie-breaker
over Saskatchewan’s Darwin Bender on Friday night, then defeated Alberta’s Jack
Smart in the Page 3-4 playoff. In the semifinal against Ontario’s Mike Munro on
Sunday morning, Manitoba took control with a steal of four in the fifth end and
ran Ontario out of rocks for the 8-3 victory and a date with Quebec in the
championship final.
“It feels like a golden year,” said Thiessen, who can add the Canadian
championship to his 2014 Paralympic title. “I came here with no expectations,
but we played our best and look where we are.”
Since the inaugural Canadian championship in 2004, British Columbia has four
titles – in 2007 (skip Darryl Neighbour), 2008 and 2009 (skip Jim Armstrong) and
2010 (skip Gary Cormack). Team Canada (skip Chris Daw) has three victories
(2004-2006) while Manitoba (2011) , Saskatchewan (2012) and Quebec (2013) have
each won once.