Trevor Bonot won the earlier round, but Eric Theriault landed the most punishing blow at the final bell.
Theriault stole singles in the third, fourth, and fifth ends yesterday as the Terrace Bay skip downed Stratton native Bonot 7-4 in the second-place tie-breaker at the Northwestern Ontario junior men’s curling playdowns in Geraldton.
The two teams had finished the eight-team round-robin showdown at 5-2 behind leader David Carr of Port Arthur (7-0), who automatically qualified for the provincials.
That left just one other berth up for grabs, with Bonot holding the edge after rallying from a 5-0 deficit in his round-robin game against Theriault to pull out an 11- 9 win.
But Bonot—representing the Stratton Curling Club though currently living in Thunder Bay, and teaming with the Thunder Baybased trio of third Jarred Meadows, second Daryl Gorman, and lead Tyler Stewart—couldn’t mount the comeback this time.
With the win, Theriault will join Carr at the provincial playdowns Jan. 15-18 in Sudbury.
Meanwhile, Fort Frances skip Adam Bolen and his team of third Brendon Loney, second Jason Pattison, and lead David Kaun finished tied for sixth with Red Lake (2-5).
Bolen beat Nipigon’s Mathew Dupuis 8-3 in the third draw Friday morning, then dumped the host Geraldton squad (whose skip’s name still was not available at press time), by a 9-3 count in the sixth draw Saturday morning.
Fort William’s Taylor Kallos ended up fourth behind Bonot with a 4-3 mark while Dupuis was fifth at 3-4. Geraldton brought up the rear with an 0-7 record.
Poor finish At the six-team Northwestern Ontario junior ladies’ playdowns at the Keewatin Curling Club, skip Amy Nielson and her Fort Frances rink of third Jenna Enge, second Kate Bondett, and lead Krystal Windigo had things going their way early on.
But after a 2-0 start, the inexperience of Nielson’s rink came to light as they dropped their final three matches to finish in a threeway tie for third.
The locals beat Cassie Heppner (Hornepayne) 12-7 and Nicole Westlund (Port Arthur) 10-7, but let their third outing Friday slip away in losing 13-6 to Caitlin Lennon (Longlac).
That left them in an unenviable position of having to beat the event’s top two teams Saturday to advance to the provincials, but the favourites would have nothing to do with any upsets.
Ashley Miharija (Fort William) doubled Nielson 8-4, then event champ Shauna Ketonen (Port Arthur) coasted to a 9-1, six-end win over the Fort Frances crew to close the playdowns.
Ketonen took top spot with a 5- 0 mark while Miharija was second at 4-1, with both teams qualifying for the provincials Jan. 15-18 in Sudbury.
Nielson shared third place with Lennon and Westlund while Heppner was mired in last place with an 0-5 record.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
