Joey Payeur
Chris Silver’s crew wasn’t completely satisfied with how they etched their name in Muskie curling lore.
But they weren’t wallowing in tears of disappointment, either, despite falling just one point short of becoming the most accomplished Fort High rink ever.
Silver and his team of third Daniel Vandenbrand, second Jason Bazylewski, and lead Davis Jackson brought home the silver medal after placing second in the boys’ division at the OFSAA championships in North Bay last week.
Fort High made it all the way to the final before being edged 5-4 by the Richview Saints (Etobicoke), who captured that school’s first gold medal in the sport.
That could have been the storyline for the Muskies, who instead matched the showing of previous rinks skipped by Bill Crewson (1998) and Isaac Keffer (2011).
“I’m proud of the boys,” said Silver, whose team went 3-1 to finish second in Pool ‘D’ and ended the week at 5-2 overall.
“It’s not the result that we wanted but I’m still happy with how we progressed throughout the week and the season,” he added.
The final was a defensive duel early on.
Silver blanked the first end and then took one in the second, with Richview following the same pattern for a 1-1 tie at the fourth-end break.
The Muskies then put the pressure on with a deuce in the fifth, with Silver drawing to the four-foot for his second point.
The house literally was “rocking” in the sixth end, with plenty of stones in play.
Silver tried a hit-and-roll on his last shot but wound up having his shooter stay put.
That left the Saints’ skip with a hit for three, which he did not miss to give Richview its first lead at 4-3.
“I could have made a different call in the sixth, but either one was going to be a tough call,” Silver recalled.
Silver then opened things up in the seventh to try and get the lead back heading home.
But an attempted hit-and-roll in by the skip came up just a little shy—allowing the Saints to steal one and pull in front by two.
In the eighth, Silver had to go for an angle raise on his last shot. But couldn’t get his shooter to roll in, leaving him with just one and the runner-up spot.
“I had to take a couple of risks at that point and it just didn’t work out,” he reasoned.
The NorWOSSA and NWOSSAA champs, who were seeded No. 2 in their pool, had opened with a 5-4 win over the third-ranked Frank J. Hayden Huskies (Burlington).
But Silver believes the spark that lit Fort High’s fire came the next day against the top-rated Bishop Allen Cardinals (Etobicoke), who jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two ends only to see the Muskies storm back for an 8-6 win.
“We stuck together and did our best not to get down,” said Silver.
“We fought back and put it away in the end, and we didn’t miss many shots after that.”
Fort High then clinched a quarter-final berth with an 8-4 victory over the fifth-seeded Vincent Massey Mustangs (Windsor).
In a preview of the final, the Muskies and Saints went at it to decide bragging rights in the pool, with the Saints rolling to a 9-3 win.
But with no time for self-pity, the black-and-gold found new resolve and took care of business with an 8-4 defeat of the E.L. Crossley Cyclones (Fonthill), who had topped Pool ‘C’ with a 3-1 mark.
That put the Muskies into the semi-finals against the Ecole Secondaire Catholique Theriault Flammes (Timmins), led by skip Felix Lasalle.
It was Lasalle who had beaten Silver’s rink (with Atikokan’s Griffin Garuk at lead for Jackson) at the Bantam provincial championship two weeks earlier on the way to winning the title in Sault Ste. Marie.
But Silver had his crew ready this time—responding to the Flammes’ single in the second with a run of nine-straight points over the next three ends en route to a 9-2 win.
“It was a grudge match,” admitted Muskie boys’ coach Ron Silver.
“But the boys were on fire all day.”
In the end, there were no regrets from any of the Muskie players when the final rock had been thrown.
“We all tried our best and it was a very good experience,” said Vandenbrand.
“We played well,” noted Bazylewski. “It was just the shots we missed were game-changes.”
Jackson wasn’t going in with any expectations—never mind a podium finish.
“It was awesome just to be there,” he enthused.
“But then to get to compete for gold was just amazing.”
Meanwhile, the top-three finish for the Muskies means NWOSSAA will have two OFSAA berths available again next year.
That only can spell trouble for next year’s field, which may very well have to deal again with a Muskie rink that will sports three Grade 12s and a veteran provincials performer in Vandenbrand in his Grade 10 year.
So there’s no reason in Silver’s mind not to begin preparations now.
“We’ll practice tomorrow if we can, or maybe take a couple of days off,” Silver said less than an hour after receiving his medal last Thursday.
“But we can’t wait to come back next year,” he added.
