Staff
There will be one more local rink competing at the U18 curling provincials here next month.
The Ashley Payne rink of Fort Frances went 3-1 at the last-chance West Qualifier in Kakabeka Falls on Friday and Saturday to earn a berth to the provincials that will be hosted by the Fort Frances Curling Club on March 6-10.
The squad, also featuring Daffni Chabot (third), Lauren Penney (second), and Anna Peters (lead), opened play Friday afternoon with a narrow 6-5 loss to Sydney Reynolds (Kakabeka Falls).
But they rebounded in a big way that night as they exacted some revenge with a 6-4 victory over Reynolds.
Payne then pulled out a narrow 8-7 win Saturday morning before ending play with a 6-1 win in just four ends that afternoon.
Neither local rink was able to advance on the boys’ side.
The Jordon Bazylewski rink went 2-2 while the Owen Riches foursome were winless (0-4) in the three-team field.
Team Bazylewski, which also features Evan Govier (third), Brett Schram (second), and Morgan Desserre (lead), opened play Friday morning with a 7-0 shutout of Riches.
Bazylewski then lost 7-4 to Dallas Burgess (Kakabeka Falls) that night before rebounding with a 6-3 win over Riches on Saturday morning.
The rink then ended play that night with a 7-5 loss to Burgess to fail to qualify for the provincials.
After their opening loss to Bazylewski, Riches, who team also includes Jordan Ekstrom (third), Ben Olson (second), and Kian McEvoy (lead), then fell 7-3 to Burgess on Friday afternoon.
Riches then was doubled 6-3 by Bazylewski on Saturday morning before wrapping up play with a 6-2 loss to Burgess that afternoon.
Burgess nabbed the provincial berth with a 4-0 record.
