Staff
Both Fort Frances teams at the Tim Hortons 2017 NOCA U18 provincial curling championships will be looking for better days today.
The girls team of skip Tory Beaudry, third Anika Beaudry, second Katrina Slomke, lead Andrea Schram and fifth Ashley Payne are 1-1 after yesterday’s opening draws in Longlac.
Beaudry opted for the big-end approach in beating Julia Horton (Copper Cliff) 9-4 in her first game.
Trailing 2-1 after the third, the Fort crew burned Horton for four in the fourth to vault in front 5-2.
Horton crept within one with singles in the fifth and sixth, but Beaudry’s bunch smacked down that challenge by posting another four-spot in the seventh to close out the scoring.
In the evening draw, the Fort quintet erased a 3-1 deficit after four ends against Bella Croisier (Sudbury) with a pair in the fifth and a steal of one in the sixth to go up 4-3.
Croisier responded vigourously with three in the seventh and stole one more in the eighth to prevail 7-4.
Beaudry faced off with Kira Brunton (Sudbury) in this morning’s draw, with the score unavailable at press time.
The Fort team will then play NorWOSSA archrival Cassidy Romyn from Sioux Lookout this afternoon and Jessica Amyot (New Liskeard) tonight.
Tomorrow, Beaudry wraps up the round-robin with games against Jamie Smith (Sault Ste. Marie) and Meahgan Jesseau (Thunder Bay).
The top three teams advance to the playoffs, with the second and third-place teams battling in the semifinal and the first-place team getting a bye to the final.
Any tiebreakers needed will be played tomorrow evening and, if necessary, Sunday with the semifinal and final also on Sunday.
At the U18 boys provincials in Nipigon, the local representatives are in some early difficulty after an 0-2 start.
With skip Chris Silver unable to compete due to a lingering hamstring injury, his team of Daniel Vandenbrand, Jason Bazylewski, Davis Jackson and Atikokan’s Griffin Garuk never got on track against Nicholas Lemieux (Sault Ste. Marie) in a 6-1 loss in their opener.
A single in the second was all the locals could manage before giving up six unanswered points, with Lemieux getting singles in the third, fifth and sixth and stealing a game-ending three in the seventh.
In the afternoon draw against Jonathon Vellinga (Kakabeka Falls), the Fort rink was in contention at the halfway mark tied 3-3 after four ends.
But Vellinga blanked the fifth and then struck for three in the sixth to open up some distance between himself and the locals.
The Fort rink only got one in the seventh and Vellinga took a single in the eighth for a 7-4 triumph.
The Silver rink tangled with Felix Lasalle (Timmins) in the morning draw today, with the score unavailable at press time.
Later, the Fort contingent will tackle Jacob Horgan (Sudbury) and then Olivier Bonin-Ducharme (New Liskeard) to round out the day.
Silver finishes the round-robin tomorrow against Myles Harding (Thunder Bay) and Joshua Landry (New Liskeard).
The final is on Sunday.
The girls and boys champions will represent Northern Ontario at the 2017 Canadian Under-18 Boys and Girls Championships in Moncton, N.B., from April 18-22.
Beaudry’s team will be joined by the Silver squad in Longlac later on Sunday, as both kick off their bid representing the Muskies to repeat as NWOSSAA champions as that event gets underway.
However, Muskies boys coach Ron Silver said today Chris Silver has been ruled out of NWOSSAA, as well.
The girls and boys champions will qualify for the OFSAA championships in North Bay from March 22-25.
