Team Bradford curl at CPAO funspiel

Ken Gregory, right, and local curler David Kemp, at CPAO Funspiel.

Ken Gregory and his Bradford team curled in the 2nd annual Canadian Paraplegic Association Ontario Funspiel last Saturday as a practice session for their upcoming competition at the Provincials, being held in Toronto, February 1-4.

"We only get together at the Bonspiels," Gregory told Miriam King of the Bradford Times. "This is our big warm-up."

Ken Gregory's Team Bradford has Collinda Joseph 3rd, Frank Cannarella 2nd and Jim Primavera at lead.

Final end 4 puts Gregory in Ontario semi-final

For most of the game it looked like defending Ontario champion Ken Gregory would become entangled in a three-way tie of 1-3 teams for third place in the Dominion Ontario Provincials at the Collingwood CC this morning.

Down 5-3 after 6, he gave up a steal in 7 but then posted 4 in the final end to give Ottawa's Bruce Cameron his first defeat 7-6. He closed with a 2-2 record, good enough for this afternoon's 2 vs 3 semi-final against Toronto's Chris Rees who beat Richard Fraser 9-4 to finish 3-1.

Cameron (3-1) went straight through to Saturday's final having stolen a 9-8 win over Rees in round robin play.

Team Gregory looking beyond 2010

Katie Paialunga, who plays second on Ken Gregory's Bradford based Ontario championship team, admits to looking beyond 2010, to the 2011 Nationals where she hopes the winner will be declared Team Canada, breaking the current selection process.

“We’d like to win the provincial this year,” Paialunga trold Dan Plouffe of the Orléans Star. “However, it’s not our overall goal.”

The next goal for the Gregory rink is to win a national title in 2011, which would then lead to an appearance in the world championships. After being passed over in favour of British Columbia-based individuals to represent Canada at the 2010 Paralympics, the long-term goal Paialunga holds is to compete in the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

“We’ve got another four years to get working on being the best team,” she added.

Now she just has to help her team past four other competitors in Ontario's Dominion Provincial Championships at Collingwood CC February 17-20.

Kenora's Ficek proves he still has Gregory's number

Unfazed by Bradford's Ken Gregory's unbeaten record at the Ontario Parasport Winter Games, and by finding his team down 4-0 after 3 ends, Kenora's Wayne Ficek brought his team back with a 3 in seven and a steal in 8 to win 7-5.

With Thunder Bay's Carl Levsque beating Ottawa's Bruce Cameron 7-4, the stage was set for a gold medal tie break between Levesque and Gregory this afternoon.