Jamie Mountain
Team Beaudry was all business last week.
The rink–comprised of Kim Beaudry (skip), Barb Roy (third), Wendy Brunetta (second), and Kris Sinclair (lead)–went a perfect 5-0 en route to claiming the title at the senior men’s and women’s provincials held last Wednesday through Sunday in Thunder Bay.
They now will represent Northern Ontario at the Canadian Senior Curling Championships on March 22-28 in Chilliwack, B.C.
Facing the Peggy Taylor rink (Kenora) in Saturday night’s final, which also featured fellow local curler Lisa Penner, Beaudry fought back from a 4-1 deficit after four ends to pull out a 6-4 victory.
“We didn’t quit,” Beaudry said.
“Being down three halfway through, we knew it would be a hard battle to come back,” she admitted.
“My first rock in the fourth end picked and went sideways, so that set us back a bit.”
Beaudry had opened play last Wednesday night with a 7-5 win over Stacey Szajewski (Keewatin).
The foursome led 5-0 after four ends but then gave up three in the fifth.
But they rebounded by scoring singles in the sixth and eighth ends to preserve the win.
Beaudry then rolled to a 9-2 romp over Taylor on Thursday afternoon before eking out narrow 4-3 win over Szajewski on Friday morning.
Then they wrapped up round-robin play Saturday morning with a 7-1 victory over Taylor before also defeating them in a much closer final that night.
“The ice in Thunder Bay is a lot faster than in Fort Frances, so we struggled a bit with draw weight,” Beaudry noted.
“By the end of the competition, we were much better at calling the weight.”
Beaudry cited the fact her rink has been playing in women’s league all season as a big factor in their success last week, as getting game time together made things easier.
So what will the rink be working on ahead of the national championships in March?
“Continuing to work on our on ice communication and fine-tuning our skills,” said Beaudry.
“[We’re] hoping we can make the playoff pool [in Chilliwack].”
