Joey Payeur
If they stayed in Longlac any longer, they might have been forced to start paying property taxes.
The Fort Frances-based rink of skip Tory Beaudry, third Anika Beaudry, second Katrina Slomke, and co-leads Andrea Schram and Ashley Payne had their extended stay there finally end yesterday with them winning the bronze medal for the Muskies at the NWOSSAA championships.
That came on the tail end of a seven-day sojourn in Longlac that began last Wednesday when they arrived for the U18 girls’ provincials, where they finished tied for third with a 4-3 record after round-robin play before losing a tiebreaker 6-2 to eventual champion Kira Brunton (Sudbury).
“They’re feeling it now,” chuckled coach Kim Beaudry.
“Tory curled 13 games in six days [while] Ashley and Katrina did 12 in six.”
The heavy schedule took its toll on the team as their stay wore on, with Anika Beaudry only able to play five games combined between the two events due to a wrist injury flaring up.
Meanwhile, Schram sat out Monday’s late draw with a leg injury to leave the Muskies with just three players.
After an opening 7-4 loss to eventual NWOSSAA champion Cassidy Romyn (Sioux Lookout Warriors), whom the Muskies had beaten in the NorWOSSA final here last month, the NorWOSSA champs crushed École secondaire Chateau-Jeunesse (Longlac) 11-2 in six ends.
But a second loss–this time 7-6 in an extra end to the Hammarskjold Vikings (Thunder Bay)–was the death knell for Fort High’s hopes of defending its NWOSSAA title won last year when the team was skipped by Erin Tomalty.
The Muskies bore down to dump the Geraldton Knights 9-2 in seven ends, then locked up third place with a 5-4 win over the Churchill Trojans (Thunder Bay).
“Last year, we won this and we could have won it again,” said Kim Beaudry.
“But they’re in good spirits and they put in a lot of good work, and got a couple of medals for it this season,” she noted.
The U18 provincials were not a favourite memory of last season for the Fort contingent, which finished seventh there.
This time around, however, the team scratched its way back into contention after a 1-3 start with three-straight victories to make it into the tiebreaker.
But Brunton, who sandwiched four-game and three-game winning streaks around a three-game losing streak at the provincials, overcame a 2-1 deficit after three ends to score three in the fourth.
She then stole two more in the fifth before forcing Beaudry to blank the final three ends.
Fort High already can see into its future as far as next season goes, with the Muskies already assured a spot in the 2018 OFSAA championships as host team.
But they will experience the all-Ontarios without Anika Beaudry beside them, as Kim Beaudry confirmed the third will skip a “victory lap” season with the Muskies to begin her post-secondary education.
