The 1968 tournament of the Canadian Ladies Curling Association Championship, the Canadian women's curling championship, was held over five days from February 26 to March 1, 1968, at the St. James Civic Centre in St. James, Manitoba (now part of Winnipeg).
The teams representing the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia (BC) both finished round robin play on February 29 tied for first with 7âÂÂ2 records, necessitating a tiebreaker playoff between the two teams to determine the championship. Team Alberta, who was skipped by Hazel Jamison captured the championship after defeating BC in the tiebreaker 11âÂÂ4. This was Alberta's second championship overall as they previously won in 1966. This was the first time in which a tiebreaker playoff determined the women's championship, as the previous three tiebreaker playoffs (1961, 1963, and 1964) were to determine second place.
This championship set a record for the most extra-end games in one tournament, with five being played. This broke the previous mark of four which had happened twice, in and . The record only lasted until the .
Heading into the Wednesday evening draw (Draw 7 â the third draw of the day), four teams had a chance of winning the championship, as British Columbia (BC) and Manitoba were tied for first at 5âÂÂ1, while Alberta and Saskatchewan were tied for third at 4âÂÂ2.
The status quo was maintained by the Wednesday evening draw results, with BC defeating New Brunswick 9âÂÂ4, Alberta beating Newfoundland 10âÂÂ2, Saskatchewan beating Prince Edward Island 8âÂÂ7, and Manitoba defeating Ontario 8âÂÂ7 in an extra end. With BC still having to face Manitoba and Alberta in the two Thursday draws, things remained wide open heading into the final day of round robin play.
The penultimate draw on the morning of February 29 provided more clarity on which teams would be in contention heading into the final draw on the Thursday evening. The first one to fall was Saskatchewan as they lost to New Brunswick 6âÂÂ4, thus eliminating Saskatchewan from championship contention. Alberta stayed alive as they scored five in the second end and never looked back in their 9âÂÂ5 victory over Quebec. Meanwhile, Manitoba appeared to have a stranglehold in their matchup with BC as they led 6âÂÂ2 through six ends. However, BC scored five in the last four ends to win 7âÂÂ6 and took over sole possession of first place.
The final draw would have huge implications, especially with the Alberta vs. BC matchup. If BC won, then they would clinch the title outright, while an Alberta win would force a tiebreaker playoff. If both Alberta and Manitoba won, then a three-way tiebreaker would determine the championship. The latter scenario did not eventuate, as Manitoba blew yet another lead (this time 7âÂÂ5 after six ends) and New Brunswick scored seven in the last four ends to win 12âÂÂ7, eliminating Manitoba.
It then appeared that BC would come away with the title, as after six ends they led Alberta 7âÂÂ2. However that changed quickly as Alberta scored five in the seventh end to tie the game. The two teams traded singles in the next two ends and scores were level at 8 heading into the final end, with BC having hammer. On Jamison's last rock of the game for Alberta, she drew to the side of the button, but Fashoway of the BC team made an angle raise to the other side of the button. The rocks were too close to the pin to be measured, so an umpire had to make the decision to determine which rock was closer; the pointâÂÂand the victoryâÂÂwas awarded to Alberta. This forced a tiebreaker playoff on the Friday morning to determine the championship.
In the rematch between Alberta and BC on Friday morning, Alberta scored singles in each of the first three ends to jump out to a 3âÂÂ0 lead. BC cut Alberta's lead down to one with two in the fourth. But that was as close as BC got, as Alberta put the game away with five in the fifth and a steal of two in the sixth to take a commanding 10âÂÂ2 lead and eventually capture the championship 11âÂÂ4 after BC conceded the tenth end.
The teams are listed as follows: <br>
Final Round Robin standings
All draw times are listed in Central Standard Time ().
Monday, February 26, 2:30 pm
Monday, February 26, 8:00 pm
Tuesday, February 27, 9:30 am
Tuesday, February 27, 8:00 pm
Wednesday, February 28, 9:30 am
Wednesday, February 28, 2:30 pm
Wednesday, February 28, 8:00 pm
Thursday, February 29, 9:30 am
Thursday, February 29, 8:00 pm
Friday, March 1, 9:30 am