Keffer helps rink earn silver medal at Winter Games

FORT FRANCES—With six local athletes participating in the 2008 Ontario Winter Games, hopes were high for a sizable Fort Frances medal haul.
Tirzah Keffer did her part—earning a silver medal in the curling competition.
Keffer took part in the Games, held March 6-9 in Collingwood and surrounding communities, as a member of the Idylwylde curling team.
Keffer, a Bantam curler with the Fort Frances Curling Club, was brought onto the Sudbury rink as a replacement following the Northern Ontario playdowns held here late last month.
After qualifying for the Winter Games, the Idylwylde crew knew they would be missing one of their regulars, prompting in an invite from Sudbury coach Brian Gates.
And Keffer’s play proved instrumental in capturing the silver medal as she helped her team to a 3-2 record along with skip Kendra Lilly, third Emilie Belzile, and lead Kaitlynd Burns.
The team struggled to open the competition, dropping a 6-3 decision against the Iroquois Falls Curling Club. While the Sudbury crew managed to put points on the board early, they could not overcome strong play from their opposition.
Luckily, their fortunes changed the following morning. Taking on the Manotick Curling Club, Idylwylde posted a 6-3 victory of their own, opening with two points in the first end and finishing with a deuce in the seventh to seal the victory.
The streak continued that afternoon when they defeated the St. Thomas Curling Club in a high-scoring affair (9-8). The teams traded two-point ends in the second, third, and fourth before St. Thomas pulled out a four-ended in the fifth.
But Idylwylde came charging back with a three-pointer in the sixth before adding on singles in the eighth and ninth ends.
The morning of Day 3 saw Keffer and her Sudbury teammates tackle the struggling Port Arthur Curling Club. Tied for the best record in the tournament at 2-1, Idylwylde had the chance to stretch their winning streak to three games over the winless Thunder Bay crew.
Putting up points early and often, Sudbury found themselves up 6-2 after five ends en route to an 8-2 win.
The final game of the tournament would be evenly matched as both the Idylwylde crew and their competition, the Winchester Curling Club, entered the fray with identical 3-1 records.
A defensive battle ensued, with neither team giving up a point over the opening three ends.
Winchester opened the scoring in the fourth end, then the teams traded singles through to the eighth and final end—denying the Sudbury team a gold medal.
While the only Fort Frances medal went to Keffer, the majority of the competitors who made the trip to the Winter Games from this area took part in the squash competition.
In fact, local players accounted for five of the eight spots on the Northwest Team.
The squash event at the Winter Games is a team effort in the truest sense. In each competition, all eight of the players take part in the match, playing a best-of-five series.
The win-loss record for the whole team then is tallied and a winner declared.
The Northwest squad came into the round-robin format as the #8 seed, playing in Pool ‘A’ along with #1 Toronto, #4 Ottawa, and #5 Central (Pool ‘B’ was made up of #2 Western, #3 Niagara, #6 Southwestern, and #7 Huronia).
Northwest opened against Central, and had the unusual misfortune of playing to a 4-4 record.
At this point, officials looked at the individual matches and determined that of the 25 games, Central had played to a 13-12 edge—giving them the win.
The afternoon match-up provided no break for the Northwest team as they faced the top-seeded Toronto squad. It took little time for powerhouse Toronto to do away with the Northwest, breezing to a 8-0 victory.
But even with the lop-sided win, Northwest coach Bob Tkachuk of Fort Frances was positive in defeat, praising the #1 seed.
“Top players are very consistent and disciplined,” he remarked. “When you have any cracks in your armour, you lose.”
Northwest’s next game saw them take on another difficult team in Ottawa. Despite a strong effort, Northwest fell 6-2—dropping their overall record to 0-3.
Saturday afternoon provided a cross-over match-up between teams in each pool. The Northwest team faced the #6-ranked crew from the Southwest, who had enjoyed a fairly successful competition thus far.
And their luck continued as the Southwest defeated the Northwest 6-2, sending the Northwest to the consolation round, where they beat Huronia 5-3 to capture seventh place.
The impressive squad representing the Northwest team faced an incredibly-talented pool of competitors during the Games, and they can be proud of their accomplishments.
Anika Alexander (girls’ under-13 division) led the squad throughout the event, winning four of her five matches over the two days.
Sister Kimika Alexander (girls’ under-15) and Aniss Seid (boys’ under-15) each finished with two wins while Samantha Mueller (girls’ under-17) captured a single victory for the Northwest.
Steve Boileau was held winless in all five of his matches despite a strong tournament.
Even with their seventh-place finish, Tkachuk was impressed with their performance and praised his athletes.
“Everybody is a better squash player for [taking part],” he said.
Toronto laid claim to the top prize, claiming the gold medal, with a win over the Western Region, who took home the silver. The bronze medal went to the Niagara following their win over Ottawa.
The Southwest Region placed fifth, with Central in sixth place.
(Fort Frances Times)