Joey Payeur
Tim Nordin already has his ticket into one provincial championship, but he wouldn’t have minded putting a second one in the bank.
Nordin and his rink of third Don DeBenedet, second Butch Wensley, and lead Dave Bondett fell 6-4 to Larry Chepsiuk of the Fort William Curling Club (Thunder Bay) in a tie-breaker at the Cameco Senior Men’s Inter-Region 1 and 2 playdowns at the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay on Sunday.
The loss meant the Stratton-based skip, who was representing the Fort Frances Curling Club along with his three Fort Frances teammates, came within one game of securing a berth to the Cameco Senior Northern Ontario Curling Association men’s provincials set for here from Feb. 24-27.
Nordin is part of another curling quartet that already has qualified for The Dominion men’s provincial championship Feb. 6-13 at the Fort William Curling Club.
Chepsiuk trailed 4-3 after giving up a go-ahead steal of one to Nordin in the sixth. But he refused to surrender, tying the game in the seventh, then stealing one in the eighth and another one in the 10th to seal the win.
The Nordin foursome went 3-2 in the round-robin event, finishing tied for second with Chepsiuk and Fort William rep John Salo, who boasted former world champion Al Hackner as his third.
Chepsiuk beat Salo 7-5 in the first tie-breaker, then dispatched Nordin to claim the second spot at the senior provincials here alongside Ken Anderson (Red Lake).
Anderson had finished in top spot with a 4-0 record after not having to play his last round-robin game due to mutual decision between himself and Thunder Bay’s Timothy Pyhtila, who already was mathematically eliminated from further contention.
Nordin did well to become a contender after getting rocked 12-2 by Anderson in seven ends in his opening match.
Anderson turned Nordin’s 2-1 lead after four ends into a distant memory, hammering the local crew for three in the fifth before adding steals of two in the sixth and a huge theft of six in the seventh to leave Nordin in a cloud of dust.
It was a different story in Nordin’s second game, though, as he turned the tide on Stratton Curling Club rep Bryan Bonot in a 9-1 pounding.
Nordin scored two in the first end and then stole three in the second to race out to a 5-0 lead.
Bonot managed one in the third, but watched Nordin grab one in the fourth and steals of two in the fifth and one more in the sixth before handshakes were exchanged.
Chepsiuk brought Nordin back to reality with a 9-4 victory. The Thunder Bay skip did most of his damage in two ends—scoring three in the fourth to go up 4-3 before putting the nail in the coffin with a four-ender in the seventh.
Nordin schooled Pyhtila 10-5 in six ends, landing a big four in the first and then back-to-back three-enders in the fourth and fifth.
The locals then wrapped up round-robin play with a 7-4 win over Salo, scoring the game’s only deuces in the first to go up 2-0 and the fourth to increase the lead to 5-1.
Woe for Bonot
As for Bonot, it was nothing but struggles as he finished last in the six-team event with an 0-5 record.
Pyhtila ignited Bonot’s troubles with an opening 6-5 victory, recovering from allowing Bonot to steal one in the ninth to tie the game by using the hammer to full advantage to take one in the 10th.
After being overwhelmed by Nordin, Bonot was bulldozed 10-0 in three ends by Anderson.
A deuce in the first quickly was followed by a steal of five by Anderson, who robbed Bonot of another three-spot in the third to bring the game to a screeching halt.
Bonot seemed to be in good shape against Salo, scoring three in the third to lead 5-3.
But Salo couldn’t miss in racking up the last nine points in the game, including three in the sixth and four more in the seventh to seal a 12-5 triumph.
Chepsiuk was the last tough pill to swallow for Bonot, who watched the Thunder Bay skip nibble his way to an eventual 7-1 rout.
It was singles night at the arena in this one, with Bonot’s single in the first counteracted by Chepsiuk getting singles in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.
A steal of two more in the seventh and another one in the eighth showed victory would not be resting with Bonot in this event.
