Purcell strikes gold at Canadian mixed curling championship

Owen Purcell started the week strong, but his Halifax Curling Club team saved its best for last.

Purcell, with third Christina Black, second Adam McEachren and lead Jennifer Baxter, defeated Jason Ackerman's Highland Curling Club squad of Regina 5-4 in Saturday's Canadian mixed curling championship gold-medal final.

Ackerman tied the game at 4-4 with a single in the seventh end, but Purcell made no mistake with the hammer in the eighth to win the weeklong event.

Ackerman's runner-up team consisted of third Amber Holland, second Sam Wills and lead Colleen Ackerman.

Kurt Alan Balderston of Grande Prairie, Alta., won the bronze medal by rocking Ryan Wiebe's Winnipeg, Man., team 9-4 in seven ends in the third-place final.

Balderston scored a deuce in the first end, stole a single in the second and counted three in the fourth to seize control of the game.