By Jeff D'Andrea

Fourth time’s the charm for the Ackerman’s, win provincial mixed

Mar 25, 2018 | 6:16 PM

The fourth time was the charm for Regina’s Jason and Colleen Ackerman at the Mixed Provincial champions. After losing out in the last three mixed provincial titles dating back to 2015, they were able to lift the trophy at the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club on Sunday.

To do that, they had to get threw Ashley Howard, who won the 2016 Saskatchewan Scotties Tournament of Heart in Prince Albert along with Jolene Campbell and is the daughter of 2006 Olympic champion Russ Howard. They did so with a big 4-2 win over Howard in the finals.

“It’s pretty sweet, there’s lots of pedigree on that team obviously with Ashley and her family. They’re great people and great curlers so we were very fortunate today,” Jason said. “My wife and I have lost the last three finals, so to get over the hump here and getting back to nationals is a really good feeling.”

For the Ackerman’s, they will return to the national stage for the first time since 2012 when they won the Canadian championship alongside Dean Hicke and Chantelle Eberle. They also qualified for nationals in 2009.

For the 2019 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Winnipeg, Nov. 5-10, 2018, they’ll bring along this year’s additions in third Deanna Doig from Moose Jaw and second Mitch Criton from Regina.

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To earn the trophy and get awarded the green Team Saskatchewan jackets, the Ackerman rink got off to a 3-0 start after four ends. They stole two in the fourth end, after Howard was light on her final shot.

Howard got on the board in the fifth, drawing behind three Ackerman stones on her first shot to end up scoring a single, making it a 3-1 game at that point. Ackerman answered with a single of his own to make it 4-1 after six ends.

Howard had a draw for two in the seventh but was heavy. She still scored one and headed into the eighth and final end down 4-2 and ran out of stones in the eighth.

Two Prince Albert rinks made it to the Championship Event, but fell in the quarterfinals round in the Saturday night draw. Bruce Korte fell 6-5 in the quarters to Saskatoon’s Brady Kendel, and fellow P.A. rink Brad Bibby lost 9-5 to Saskatoon’s Justin Heather.

jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW