CALGARY, November 11…Alberta, skipped by Dean Ross of Calgary, capped off a perfect opening weekend at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship by defeating British Columbia, 10-7 in Draw 4 Sunday night.

The host province was able to remain unbeaten at the Calgary Curling Club by counting three in the 10th end against Bryan Miki’s New Westminster team to push its record to 4-0.

Right behind Alberta, though, are Northern Ontario and Ontario, with 3-1 marks.  Northern Ontario, skipped by Mike Assad of Thunder Bay, beat Nova Scotia, 7-3, while Ontario, skipped by three-time Canadian Seniors champion Bob Turcotte, representing the Scarboro Golf & Country Club of Toronto, held off Newfoundland and Labrador, 6-4.

In other games, Prince Edward Island got off the schneid by stealing one in the 10th end to get by Saskatchewan, 5-4; New Brunswick whacked Yukon/Northwest Territories, 9-2 and Quebec whipped Manitoba, 8-3, counting a game-ending five in the seventh end.

The results left five teams with 2-2 marks:  Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec.

The remaining four teams, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon/NWT, are knotted at 1-3.

Round robin play continues on Monday with Draw 5 scheduled for 12 Noon MT/2:00 pm ET and Draw 6 at 6:00 pm MT/8:00 pm ET.

The round robin concludes on Thursday morning, followed by any required tiebreakers before the playoffs.  The first place team will advance to Friday afternoon’s final, while the second and third place teams meet in a semi-final.

Twelve teams, representing the 10 provinces plus separate entries for Northern Ontario and Yukon/Northwest Territories, are battling for the 2008 Canadian Mixed title, which has been won by Alberta and Saskatchewan a leading eight times each since the championship began in 1964 in Toronto.

Two members of the winning team will also compete in the inaugural 2008 World Mixed Doubles Championship, March 9-15 in Vierumäki, Finland.   The team members will decide who will represent Canada at the event.

CurlTV (www.curltv.com) is providing event coverage to its subscribers.

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