2025 Canadian Senior Curling Championships begin Saturday in Ottawa

It’s an Olympic curling season, and there will be numerous past Olympic medallists participating in the 2025 Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships, which begin Saturday in Ottawa.

The 2025 Canadian Seniors, for players ages 50 and over, kick off with draws Saturday at 3 p.m. (all times Eastern) and 8:30 p.m. at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, and will run through to Dec. 6.

On the men’s side, the Ontario reps from Brantford are skipped by 1998 Olympic silver-medallist Mike Harris, and also have his 1998 teammate Richard Hart as the alternate.

In women’s play, Team Alberta, representing the Grande Prairie and Okotoks Curling Clubs and skipped by Delia DeJong, features vice-skip Glenys Bakker, who was the second for Shannon Kleibrink’s 2006 Olympic bronze-medallists. As well, Team B.C. from Maple Ridge, skipped by Shiella Cowan, is coached by Georgina Wheatcroft, who played second for Kelley Law’s Canadian bronze-medal team at the 2002 Olympics.

There will be new champions crowned this year as neither of the 2024 gold-medallists — Alberta’s Atina Ford Johnston and Saskatchewan’s Team Randy Bryden — is back to defend their titles.

But there’s no shortage of contenders, including the aforementioned Olympic veterans.

On the men’s side, 2014 Canadian champ and 2015 world seniors silver-medallist Alan O’Leary will be skipping Team Nova Scotia, a Bridgewater-based team that features Danny Christianson at second; he was also on the 2014 team.

After losing Canadian senior finals in 2024 and 2022, James Pahl and his Alberta champs from Sherwood Park are looking to take one more step up the medal podium, as is Saskatchewan’s Team Bruce Korte from Saskatoon, who won silver in 2023.

On the women’s side, Team Sherry Middaugh from Barrie looks to win gold after taking silver in 2019; her team features lead Jane Hooper Perroud, who won the 1996 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and World Women’s title playing the same position for Marilyn Bodogh’s team.

Also in the field is 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Amber Holland, who is skipping Saskatoon-based team Saskatchewan.

As well, Team Quebec vice-skip Isabelle Néron (the team from Chicoutimi, Riverbend and Buckingham is skipped by Nathalie Gagnon) won the inaugural Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship in 2013 with partner Robert Desjardins, who will skip the Quebec men’s team (Chicoutimi/Riverbend)/Montreal Ouest) in Ottawa. Néron and Desjardins represented Canada at the 2013 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Fredericton, N.B.

The gold-medal winners in Ottawa will earn the right to represent Canada at the 2026 World Senior Curling Championships in Geneva, Switzerland.

Fourteen men’s and 14 women’s teams (representing the 10 provinces plus Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon) will compete and have been seeded into two pools per gender, playing a round robin within their pool through Wednesday.

The top four in each pool then advance to the Championship Pool for crossover games beginning Thursday, Dec. 4, against teams from the other pool, while the remaining teams go to the Seeding Pool. 

After the Championship Pool round robin wraps up on Friday, Dec. 5, the playoffs will start Saturday, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m. with the semifinals, pairing the first-seeded team against the fourth-seeded team and the second- and third-ranked teams in the second semifinal. 

The winners advance to their respective gold-medal final, while the losers will play for bronze. The medal games for both genders will be at 3 p.m.

Ontario leads all Member Associations with 13 Canadian senior men’s championships since the event’s origin in 1965. Ontario and Saskatchewan lead the way with 11 senior women’s championship victories apiece.

The Canadian senior men’s championship first occurred in 1965, with the first event played at Port Arthur, Ont. The Canadian senior women’s championship began in 1973 at Ottawa.

Live scoring updates for the 2025 Canadian Seniors are available by CLICKING HERE. For event information, including ticket options, team lineups and draw times, CLICK HERE.