With 16 of the top men’s curling rinks in Northwestern Ontario battling it out in Longlac last week for one of two berths up for grabs to the Northern Ontario tankard next month, it was no question the teams that went on a hot streak would advance.
But only one rink–Bruce Melville (Thunder Bay Country Club)–came away as the foursome that stayed hot throughout the triple- and double-knockout portions of the playdowns, cruising to a perfect 6-0 record to earn top spot and a trip to Espanola.
The rest of the field, including Tim Nordin and Derek Jackson of Fort Frances, had trouble with consistency all week.
And while Jackson and Nordin both took different routes to become two of the eight teams that advanced to the double-knockout portion, they both ran into the same nemesis that put an end to their run.
Ken Anderson (Balmertown) eliminated Jackson 10-6 in the ‘B’-side quarter-final Sunday morning, then he blanked Nordin 7-0 in the semi-finals (he later lost 5-3 to former world champ Al Hackner, who won the second berth to Espanola).
Nordin, whose rink included Raymond Roy (third), Clint Barton (second), and Scott Gobeil (lead), said several rinks had a legitimate shot at earning one of the two available spots.
“All the teams were pretty much even except for a couple of weaker teams that were [at the ‘northwesterns’] for the first time,” he noted.
“But still we were pretty confident that we could have went on if we played up to our potential because we felt we had a strong lineup.
“We showed we could beat the big guns,” he added.
Nordin gave up two in the first end to Anderson, then a steal of two in both the second and third ends to quickly fall behind 6-0. Then after giving up one more in the fourth to trail 7-0, Nordin decided to shake hands.
“When you get down against teams [at the ‘northwesterns’], they don’t let you back in it,” noted Roy. “You’re forced to gamble and then they just hammer you.”
Nordin opened the playdowns in precarious fashion, dropping his first two games–9-6 to Hackner and 7-5 to Bill Haskell (Nipigon)–before reeling off three-straight wins to qualify for the next round.
A 9-6 win over Rod Doran (Marathon), a 6-3 decision against Mike Desilets (Fort William), and a 9-0 thumping of Bill Carroll (Campbell) gave Nordin new life heading into the eight-team double-knockout round.
“In a way, it made it tougher for us to come back after the first two losses but that’s usually how we play,” Nordin noted.
Nordin dropped an 8-3 decision to Hackner to open play in the double-knockout portion before he rebounded to crush Larry Pineau (Thunder Bay) 11-5 and Scott Ronaldson (Nipigon) 10-3 to reach the ‘B’-side semi-final against Anderson.
Meanwhile, Jackson opened the playdowns on a roll by edging Rob McDonough (Terrace Bay) 7-6 and Ronaldson 8-7 on Thursday before he lost 10-4 to Melville on Friday afternoon.
But Jackson got right back into the win column with a slim 5-4 victory over Carroll to advance to the next round.
He opened the double-knockout portion with a 10-6 loss to Ronaldson but then stormed back to beat Tim Warkentin (Kenora) 9-6 before being eliminated with his loss to Anderson.
“We played pretty steady. The guys behind me had a great weekend, it’s just that we missed a shot here and there that we would have liked to have taken back,” said Jackson, whose rink included Dale Jackson (third), Dave Hughes (second), Lorne Jackson (lead), and Pete LeDrew (fifth).
“I’m happy with our run. We played a fairly open game and we took some chances and played well against the Thunder Bay teams that we don’t play together as much as they do,” he added.
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