Mixing it up in Morris

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This article was published 13/11/2010 (5672 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Terry McNamee is hoping four times will be the charm as the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship opens today at the Morris Curling Club.

McNamee will be making his fourth appearance as skip of the Manitoba mixed champion over the next seven days as the province hosts its first national mixed championship since Brandon hosted the event in 1989.

McNamee has made semifinal appearances in two of three previous trips to the national mixed and says a win in next Saturday’s final would be particularly satisfying.

“It would mean a lot to win a national championship,” McNamee said Friday, “and particularly to do it this year on home soil.

“There should be good crowds pulling for us. It should be a good time in a small centre. And I think we have the personnel to do it.”

McNamee will be supported in Morris by Manitoba curling veterans Lana Hunter at third, second Allan Lawn and lead Lisa Blixhavn.

Tanya Enns was McNamee’s lead when his team won the province last spring, but she is now expecting twins and has elected to sit out the week in favour of Blixhavn.

McNamee said the foursome that will be playing in Morris has only curled together a handful of times over the past couple weeks.

“Lisa is busy with her ladies team and my men’s team is curling a lot too, but we’ve thrown some rocks together in the past couple weeks,” McNamee said.

P.E.I’s Robert Campbell will be making a fond return to Manitoba this week.

Campbell won his only national mixed championship in Brandon in 1989. Manitoba also hosted the national mixed in 1968, 1974 and 1981.

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Campbell has also represented P.E.I. at the Brier and he will be joined in Morris by several other skips who are Brier alumni, including New Brunswick’s Charlie Sullivan, Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming and Northwest Territories/Yukon’s Steve Moss.

With a victory in Morris, McNamee would capture Manitoba its ninth national mixed championship, which would tie this province with Alberta for the lead.

Manitoba last won a mixed title in 2008 when Sean Grassie captured the national title in Iqaluit in what has been the only Canadian curling championship ever held in the Far North.

McNamee opens the event tonight at 6:30 p.m. with a game against Saskatchewan’s Steven Slupski.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca