Iqaluit’s Mackey team win Nunavut Men’s Curling Championship

If Iqaluit’s Peter Mackey has an advantage over the rest of the country right now, it’s the fact that he’s the only skip to date to win his way to the Tim Hortons Brier.

After winning the national championship at the Iqaluit Curling Club on Jan. 10 with a 10-6 win over the rink led by Wade Kingdon, Mackey, and his rink of Jeff Nadeau, Greg Howard, and Jeff Chown.

They will represent the territory at the 2021 Canadian men’s curling championship in Calgary in March. A best-of-five series would decide the winner because they were the only two rinks in the bonspiel. Mackey’s 3-2 triumph completed a comeback from a 2-0 down.

The deciding game saw Kingdon take a 5-1 lead after four ends, but the game changed in the fifth end when Mackey scored four points on an open takeout to score the game at 5-5 at halftime.

Mackey did not even have to throw his skip stones in the tenth and last end since he ran Kingdon out of rocks.

“That steal of 3 was bigger than the four we got in the fifth,” Mackey said. “The 4 tied the game, but the steal gave us the lead, forcing Wade to play more aggressively to get back in the game.” With the ticket for Calgary punched, the focus now shifts to the time leading up to the start of the Brier.

With the ticket for Calgary punched, the focus now shifts to the days building up to the start of the Brier.

The Brier, like other sports, will be played in a bubble, with competitors playing their games and then returning to the hotel, with no sightseeing or mixture between rooms. So the foursome won’t have to isolate before heading to Calgary, and there’s a chance they’ll be able to get the vaccine before leaving. Mackey and Nadeau will compete in their third Brier. However, this will be their first time at the skip or third positions.

Source: nunavut news.com