Staff
Sometimes it comes down to technicalities.
Kim Beaudry was able to beat Melanie Patry (Coniston) 3-2 yesterday morning, but that wasn’t quite good enough to earn a berth in the Dominion women’s club curling national championship.
Since Patry entered the game undefeated, she had to be knocked off twice in order for Beaudry to claim the provincial crown.
And Patry put her second life to good use, stonewalling Beaudry 7-3 in the winner-take-all final yesterday afternoon.
In Beaudry’s win, she and her rink of third Kelly Wagar, second Teresa McFayden, and lead Jeannie Sheppard fell behind 1-0 in the third after the first two ends were blanked.
The locals then put up singles in the fourth and fifth ends to jump ahead 2-1, but Patry knotted things in the sixth with a single of her own.
After blanking the seventh, Beaudry claimed the necessary single in the eighth to force another game.
In the 7-3 loss, Beaudry hung around early but Patry became overwhelming as the game progressed.
Patry put up a single in the first before Beaudry responded with a deuce in the second.
Patry took the lead for good with a deuce of her own in the third before stealing one in the fourth to go up 4-2.
Beaudry climbed to within one with a single in the fifth, but Patry put up one in each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth ends to claim the victory and the national berth.
Beaudry had opened the tournament with a 9-0 victory over Sharon Giertuga (Fort William) on Thursday night, then improved to 2-0 with an 8-3 win over Judith MacMichael (Soo Curlers Association) on Friday afternoon.
Friday night brought Beaudry’s round-robin match-up against Patry, which the eventual champ took 6-2.
Beaudry hoped to rebound Saturday morning against Rejeanne MacLeod (Iroquois Falls), who went into the game at 0-3.
But MacLeod staged a late comeback to stun Beaudry 6-5 for her lone victory of the weekend.
Sitting at 2-2 with a pair of rinks, Beaudry needed a victory over Karen Saarimaki of Geraldton (also 2-2) to make a trip to the final a possibility.
And Beaudry didn’t just win, she made a statement—pounding Saarimaki 8-1.
