(Saturday, November 19, 5pm) The two Team Manitobas will play for different colour medals Sunday afternoon at Pembina Curling Club. East St. Paul’s Judy Colwell (Wendy Nykoluk, Donna Smiley, Leslie Brown) defeated Nova Scotia Saturday afternoon to advance to the gold medal game while Brandon’s Murray Warren (Brian Barker, Terry Warren, Reg Warren) lost an extra end on a last stone draw to the edge of the button by Saskatchewan skip Gord Bell.

Colwell will play BC’s Penny Shantz team while the men’s gold medal game will have Saskatchewan against Northern Ontario (Al Hackner).

Nova Scotia and the Manitoba men were both the #2 seeds in the semi-finals. The BC Women and Northern Ontario Men were the top seeds.

Colwell’s victory was decisive, winning in six ends while Warren led by two after six ends but gave up a three to trail by one coming home. Warren made a draw facing three to force the extra end.

The key in the Colwell game was the sixth end when a seemingly likely four or five ender for Nova Scotia (throwing yellow) turned into a steal of two by Manitoba for an 8-2 lead. Nova Scotia had no shot to score with the last stone which went unthrown on the seventh as the team conceded.

(Saturday, November 19, 1pm) WARREN’S MANITOBANS FINISH SECOND, ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS………..Manitoba’s Murray Warren team has finished second in the championship pool and advanced to the semi-finals of the Canadian Masters Championship at Pembina. A 5-4 win over New Brunswick on Saturday morning’s last draw set the team from Brandon (Deloraine/Medora/Melita) up for a semi-final game against Gord Bell and Team Saskatchewan.

In the other semi-final, Wes Craig and Team BC (who eliminated the Mark Franklin host team) will play Northern Ontario’s Al Hackner. Hackner had already advanced but defeated Ontario to finish in first place at 9W-1L and eliminate Ontario.

Warren’s win was another tester as they once again let slip a four point lead to sit tied 4-4 coming home with last rock. The end was going New Brunswick’s way until third Brian Barker made a light weight hit past a centre guard to bounce a frozen stone on the button. The NB stone did not leave the four foot, but was re-positioned. With his first stone a Murray Warren triple kill left Manitoba shot stone and the New Brunswick skip slid deep with his final draw.

On this occasion, Warren may have been relieved not to have to throw his final stone.

In the Women’s division, Manitoba’s Judy Colwell will play Jocelyn Nix (Nova Scotia) and Penny Shantz (BC) will play Onatrio (Jan Carwardine).

The semi finals go at 2pm with the gold and bronze medal games at 10AM Sunday.

It looked like Murray Warren’s Team Manitoba was cruising to a victory over unbeaten Al Hacker (Northern Ontario) when they hit a speed bump sixth end Friday afternoon. Up four at the time, Warren and his team saw the Hackner foursome build a four ender to tie and then steal two on the seventh to lead by two coming home.

The last end looked like the Hackner win streak would continue until second Terry Warren buried in the 12 foot circle behind a corner guard (picture 1). The peel attempt was flashed and play moved to the centre where Hackner was laying two. A series of draws and taps turned the two red stones into two yellow Warren stones. With his first stone, skip Murray Warren put his stone exactly where he wanted it in the eight foot in front of the tee line.

Hackner had nothing but a double and roll (picture 2) to some kind of protected position but he rolled out and left Warren a draw to the rings for 3 and an 11-10 win.

Despite the loss, Northern Ontario will advance to the playoff round. The win gave Team Manitoba a 7W-2L record but no guarantee yet of being in the playoffs. They will advance with a Saturday morning win over New Brunswick. However, BC, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Mark Franklin’s Manitoba Host team are all at 6W-3L so the three teams to join Hackner in the playoffs will all be determined on Saturday’s final draw.

All four games on the final draw will have a bearing on the final standings.

In the women’s championship, Manitoba’s Judy Colwell team will advance to the playoff round. With a game to play Friday evening, British Columbia and Nova Scotia had 7W-1L records while Manitoba