Gobeil rink falls just short

With his opponent holding the hammer in the last end of a tie game, Scott Gobeil had enough trouble on his hands without worrying about a worn-out slider.
But a tiny piece of rubber picked up by the Fort Frances skip’s last rock had a gigantic impact on the final of the Canadian Police Curling Championship on Saturday afternoon in Summerside, P.E.I.
“It came to a screeching halt about a foot in front of the rings,” said Gobeil, who, along with his Northern Ontario team of third Jeff Simpkins, second Dennis Smith, and lead Pete LeDrew, could only sit and watch as Alberta skip Mark Johnson’s draw to the open house just bit the back of the 12-foot for a single point and a 6-5 victory.
“I think it held on by a quarter-of-an-inch,” said a rueful Gobeil, who desperately tried to sweep the shot right out the back of the house to force an extra end against the now four-time national champion from Alberta.
“Nobody in the crowd could see [if it was still in the rings], but after I gave it a little kick, everybody knew,” he added.
Despite the disappointment of losing in the final, Gobeil was pleased with his team’s performance during the week.
“The team played well,” he said. “We were never out of any game, except against the Territories [a 10-1 loss].”
Making his sixth appearance at the nationals with one title to his credit (while playing third on Clint Barton’s 1996 squad that won here), Gobeil finished first in the round-robin with a 9-2 record, which equalled that of Johnson and former two-time champ Garth Mitchell (Ontario).
With the three rinks each sporting a 1-1 mark against each other during the preliminary round, Northern Ontario was awarded top spot based on finishing ahead of the other two in a closest-to-the-button competition held before the opening draw.
Gobeil beat Mitchell 8-4 in the #1 vs. #2 quarter-final game Friday, which gave Northern Ontario an automatic berth into Saturday afternoon’s final, while Mitchell was relegated to Saturday morning’s semi-final, which he lost 5-3 to Johnson.
Barry Meyer (B.C.) rink finished fourth in the round-robin with an 8-3 mark before being eliminated by Johnson 7-2 in the other quarter-final game Friday.
Manitoba’s Don Nelson, who was taken out of playoff contention when Gobeil beat them 7-5 on Thursday afternoon, ended up in sole possession of fifth place at 7-4.
Also missing the playoffs were Quebec’s Eric Harvey (6-5), Newfoundland and Labrador’s Dean Chaulk (4-7), New Brunswick’s Tom Berry (4-7), Nova Scotia’s John Elliott (3-8), and Saskatchewan’s Roger Pike (3-8).
Defending champ Paul Saulnier, from the host P.E.I. squad, struggled all week to join Ross Milward of the Territories in the basement (2-9).
Gobeil—whose team automatically qualified for the nationals when Terrace Bay and Dryden withdrew from a planned three-team playoff—not only will be with a new sidekick, but representing a new region, should he make it back for another appearance.
“It was recently voted that Northern Ontario will be eliminated as a qualifying region for at least next year, and so I’m going to have to curl out of Manitoba,” he noted.
“And with the jurisdiction changes, because [Simpkins] is from Northeastern Ontario, he will have to curl out of Ontario rather than Manitoba.”