There is a new wheelchair curling provincial championship team this year.
On Feb. 2, Team Macdonald downed defending champs Team Neighbour to take the gold medal game in the 2020 B.C. Wheelchair Curling Championships in Cloverdale.
“I had a great team behind me,” said skip Bob Macdonald. “We shook things up and tried a few different players and it was a great team effort.”
Macdonald said his team is looking forward to getting to Quebec and playing in the national championships.
Team Neighbour squares off against Team MacDonald in a round-robin game during the wheelchair curling provincial championships at Cloverdale Curling Club Feb. 1. Games continue today at 3 p.m., with the semi-final set for Sunday morning at 9 a.m. and the final set for 1 p.m. pic.twitter.com/P6GAHSeAVa
— Cloverdale Reporter (@CloverdaleNews) February 1, 2020
Team Macdonald features Bob Macdonald (Tunnel Town/Marpole), Alison Duddy (Quesnel), Gary Cormack (Cloverdale) and Vince Miele (Tunnel Town/Marpole/Richmond).
The team downed the defending champ Team Neighbour in a close final, outlasting them 6-5 by scoring one rock in the final end. Team Neighbour was comprised of two gold medal winning Paralympians, Darryl Neighbour from Richmond and Ina Forrest from Armstrong.
Macdonald said all the tourney games were pretty close, even the final end of the final game, where his squad forced Neighbour to try and make a very difficult shot in the final end.
The Macdonald rink now heads to nationals April 25-30 in Boucherville, Que.
Zosia Ettenberg of Langley won the B.C. wheelchair curling championship’s inaugural sportsmanship award.
The Neighbour rink, rounded out by third Ellis Tull (Nanaimo), second Frank LaBounty (Prince George), lead Janice Ing (Vancouver), fifth Ina Forrest (Armstrong), and coach Vic Shimizu, won the silver medal.
Team Austgarden, featuring Gerry Austgarden (Kelowna), Rick Robinson (Surrey), Marney Smithies (Delta), Tracy Boyd (Langley) and coach Sharon Morrison, were awarded the bronze medal.
Zosia Ettenberg skipped a team into fourth place. Robert Pullen played third, Jeff Smithies played second and Mildred Thomas played lead.
The full draw results can be found here.
Anyone interested in trying wheelchair curling can visit the Delta Thistle Curling Club on Fridays. Visit deltathistle.ca for more info.
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