NS's Flemming, ON's Froud capture senior curling championships

VERNON, B.C. — Paul Flemming's team from Nova Scotia scored a single point in the eighth end on Saturday to defeat Bruce Korte's Saskatchewan foursome 4-3 to win the Canadian senior men's curling championship.

Flemming, with third Peter Burgess, second Martin Gavin and lead Kris Granchelli of the Halifax/Truro Curling Club, scored two in the first end, then stole one in the fifth.

Korte, with third Darrell Mckee, second Kory Kohuch and lead Rory Golanowski of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon, scored two in the sixth, stole one in the seventh and came up short in the eighth.

“I think the curling gods may have been on our side there in the fifth end,” Flemming said. “Bruce had a legit shot at three, maybe even four, so we caught a break there. Having said that, I thought we played pretty good and got ourselves out of a few jams.”

Asked about playing for gold, Flemming added: “I never even looked over at that (medal) table once out there. The last thing you want to do is look too far ahead and think of results. It’s just one end at a time and try to manage control of the curling game.”

Meanwhile, Manitoba skip Dave Boehmer of the Petersfield Curling Club led his team to an 8-5 victory over Mike Kennedy's Moncton, N.B., crew in the bronze-medal game.

Kennedy was leading 5-3 after five ends, but Boehmer scored three in the sixth, then stole singles in the seventh and eighth to win the game.

Skip Susan Froud of Alliston, Ont., claimed gold in the women's final by beating Nancy Martin's foursome of Martensville, Sask., 10-4 in seven ends.

Froud, with third Kerry Lackie, second Kristin Turcotte and lead Julie McMullin, scored deuces in the second and fifth ends, stole three in the sixth and seventh and then handshakes.

Martin, with third Deanna Doig, second Nancy Inglis and lead Cathy Inglis, opened the game with a single in the first, single in the third and two in the fourth, but never scored again.

“Amazing. Absolutely amazing,” Froud said. “We knew we could do it, we just had to play our game but didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves. I’m so proud of the girls. They played awesome all week we’re such a great team.”

Diane Gushulak's team from New Westminster, B.C., won the bronze medal by defeating Atina Ford Johnston's Calgary team 7-3.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2023.