Canada eyes wheelchair curling worlds with Paralympic qualification on the line

Douglas Dean will wear the Maple Leaf for the first time at the world wheelchair curling championship.

The 60-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ont., is also the first curler from Northern Ontario to play for Canada in the event.

"It means a lot, especially at 60 years old. I thought my athletic career was over until the sport of curling came about," Dean said.

"What means even more to me is that I am proudly wearing the Maple Leaf, not only representing Canada, but I'm also representing all of the Northern Ontario curlers who did it before me and helped me get to this stage. There's a lot of people that I curled with in Northern Ontario that helped me tremendously in achieving this goal.

"I've packed the team picture in my carry-on luggage, and I'm bringing them to Scotland with me, and I'm putting them in my dorm room. I'm bringing a piece of Northern Ontario with me."

A longtime skip at multiple national championships, Dean will throw second stones for Canada when the 12-country tournament starts Saturday in Stevenston, Scotland.

Jon Thurston of Dunsford, Ont., throwing fourth stones and skip/third Gil Dash of Wolsely, Sask., earned silver medals in the last two world championships.

Collinda Joseph of Stittsville, Ont. and alternate Chrissy Molnar of Trent Lakes, Ont., round out the squad that opens against the United States on Saturday and plays an 11-game round robin before the March 8 medal games.

"Doug has shown a lot of talent for a number of years in the Canadian wheelchair curling scene," Canada's head coach Mick Lizmore said.

"He's a highly proficient takeout player. He can throw the rock pretty hard and that's a skill set that is really, really valuable in wheelchair curling. The position that he's playing kind of