The Canadian Armed Forces Canada West Curling Championship is down to its final two teams.
And just like last time around, there was an upset in one of the semifinals, only this time 15 Wing Moose Jaw wasn’t the beneficiary when all was said and done at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Skip Cpl. Jonathan Benson, third Sgt. Jay McLellan, second WO Robert Cogswell and lead Capt. Jean Doyon missed the playoffs by a single win after splitting their final two round robin games, falling 9-1 to 19 Wing Comox before closing out the preliminary round with a 9-2 win over CFB Edmonton.
The victory over Edmonton gave 15 Wing a 2-4 record and tied them with CFB Equimalt for the fourth and final playoff spot, but thanks to Equimalt’s 11-9 win over 15 Wing in the round robin, they took the final medal round berth.
Cold Lake put together a 5-0 record and faced Equimalt in their semifinal, with the contest turning into back-and-forth battle in the early going.
Equimalt put up a three-ender to open the contest and led 4-2 through four when Cold Lake got on a roll. A three-spot of their own in the fifth gave them a 5-4 lead, followed by a deuce in the sixth and four-ender in the seventh making it an 11-4 final.
The other semifinal saw Comox endure a upset for the second straight year, as despite their 5-1 round robin record they’d drop a 9-6 decision to CFB Shilo, who capped their preliminary round at 4-2.
Shilo got off to a great start, staking themselves to a 4-0 lead thanks to three in the second end. Comox came right back, though, putting up three in the third to get within one before the two teams exchanged single points. That set the stage for the sixth end, where Shilo took complete control with a four-ender, and while Comox would get two back in the seventh, that would be as close as they’d get as Shilo took a 9-6 victory..
That all sets up the championship game on Friday at 9 a.m., where Cold Lake will take on Shilo for gold. Cold Lake will be the favourite in that contest, thanks to their unbeaten record and a 10-2 win over Shilo in the round robin.
17 Wing Winnipeg is the defending champion, but failed to make the playoffs after going 1-5 and finishing seventh in the round robin.
