The 1994 Ontario Tankard, (known as the Blue Light Tankard for sponsorship reasons) the southern Ontario men's provincial curling championship was held February 8-13 at the St. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Arena in St. Thomas, Ontario.[1] The winning rink of Russ Howard, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh and Peter Corner from the Penetanguishene Curling Club would go on to represent Ontario at the 1994 Labatt Brier in Red Deer, Alberta.

1994 Ontario Tankard
Host citySt. Thomas, Ontario
ArenaSt. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Arena
DatesFebruary 8-13
WinnerTeam Howard
Curling clubPenetanguishene Curling Club,
Penetanguishene, Ontario
SkipRuss Howard
ThirdGlenn Howard
SecondWayne Middaugh
LeadPeter Corner
FinalistAxel Larsen (Guelph)
« 1993
1995 »

Team Howard of Penetanguishene entered the event as the defending World Champions, having won the 1993 World Men's Curling Championship. They easily beat the Axel Larsen rink from Guelph in the final, 9–4, in front of 2,236 fans. The turning point in the game came in the fourth end, when Larsen accidentally bumped one of Howard's rocks into the rings on his first, which eventually resulted in a score of three for Howard in the end, taking a 5–1 lead. It was the eighth provincial championship for Howard.[2]

There were rumours during the event that Howard would decline the opportunity to represent Ontario at the Brier due to a dispute over not being allowed to use their sponsors on their sweaters.[2]

Standings edit

Final standings[3]

Key
Teams to Playoffs
Skip Club[4] Wins Losses
Russ Howard Penetanguishene 8 2
Axel Larsen Guelph 7 3
Doug Johnston West Ottawa Granite 7 3
Ed Werenich Churchill 6 4
Mike Altenhof Chatham Granite 6 4
Ian Robertson Thornhill 5 5
Peter Steski Westmount 4 6
Ron Diguer West Ottawa Granite 4 6
Bob Turcotte Oshawa 3 7
John Base Oakville 3 7
Bob Ray Land O'Lakes 2 7

Scores edit

February 8 edit

Draw 1[5]
  • Werenich 10, Altenhof 4
  • Diguer 6, Turcotte 4
  • Steski 7, Ray 3
  • Base 9, Howard 6
  • Robertson 7, Larsen 6
Draw 2
  • Turcotte 10, Ray 3
  • Larsen 8, Howard 5
  • Werenich 7, Base 5
  • Johnston 10, Altenhof 7
  • Robertson 7, Diguer 4

February 9 edit

Draw 3[6]
  • Johnston 7, Base 6
  • Howard 10, Diguer 1
  • Ray 8, Robertson 4
  • Steski 9, Turcotte 2
  • Larsen 10, Werenich 8
Draw 4
  • Robertson 9, Steski 8
  • Werenich 7, Diguer 5
  • Larsen 7, Johnston 5
  • Altenhof 9, Base 2
  • Howard 10, Ray 4
Draw 5
  • Altenhof 7, Larsen 4
  • Ray 9, Werenich 7
  • Howard 6, Steski 2
  • Turcotte 8, Robertson 6
  • Johnston 9, Diguer 4

February 10 edit

Draw 6[7]
  • Howard 6, Turcotte 4
  • Johnston 7, Ray 6
  • Altenhof 7, Diguer 5
  • Larsen 7, Base 4
  • Werenich 7, Steski 5
Draw 7
  • Diguer 10, Base 7
  • Johnston 8, Steski 7
  • Werenich 8, Turcotte 6
  • Howard 9, Robertson 2
  • Altenhof 7, Ray 4

February 11 edit

Draw 8[8]
  • Robertson 6, Werenich 5
  • Steski 11, Altenhof 5
  • Base 8, Ray 3
  • Larsen 9, Diguer 6
  • Johnston 10, Turcotte 5
Draw 9
  • Larsen 8, Ray 6
  • Altenhof 9, Turcotte 6
  • Johnston 6, Robertson 3
  • Howard 7, Werenich 4
  • Base 9, Steski 7
Draw 10
  • Howard 10, Johnston 6
  • Turcotte 8, Base 5
  • Steski 9, Larsen 8
  • Diguer 9, Ray 4
  • Altenhof 8, Robertson 5

February 11 edit

Draw 11[3]
  • Diguer 9, Steski 3
  • Robertson 7, Base 2
  • Howard 7, Altenhof 5
  • Werenich 13, Johnston 8
  • Larsen 13, Turcotte 6

Playoffs edit

Semifinal Final
1 Russ Howard 9
2 Axel Larsen 9 2 Axel Larsen 4
3 Doug Johnston 3

Semifinal edit

February 12[9]

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Final
Doug Johnston 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 X X 3
Axel Larsen 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 3 X X 9

Final edit

February 13[10]

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Final
Axel Larsen 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 X 4
Russ Howard 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 2 1 X 9

References edit

  1. ^ "Wrench wins pair, Howard stumbles". Waterloo Region Record. February 9, 1994. p. 41. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Back to the Brier: Howard rink best out of Ontario again". Ottawa Citizen. February 14, 1994. p. 48. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Curling". Toronto Star. February 13, 1994. p. 77. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  4. ^ "Curling". St. Catharines Standard. February 8, 1994. p. 22. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  5. ^ "Curling". Toronto Star. February 9, 1994. p. 43. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  6. ^ "Curling". Ottawa Citizen. February 10, 1994. p. 30. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  7. ^ "Curling". Ottawa Citizen. February 11, 1994. p. 24. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  8. ^ "Curling". Toronto Star. February 12, 1994. p. 67. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  9. ^ "Ontario Men's". Edmonton Journal. February 13, 1994. p. 7. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  10. ^ "Curling". Ottawa Citizen. February 14, 1994. p. 24. Retrieved January 28, 2024.