Gobeil loses in thrilling final

It’s every skip’s dream to have last rock advantage coming home. And when you don’t have it, dreams usually go unfulfilled.
Scott Gobeil of Fort Frances could only watch as Alberta’s Mark Johnson used the hammer to score a single in the 10th end to edge Northern Ontario 6-5 in the final of the Canadian Police Curling Championship in Summerside, P.E.I. on Saturday afternoon.
Johnson collected his fourth national title with the victory and prevented Gobeil—who had played third on Clint Barton’s championship squad in 1996—from returning to the top of the mountain.
With Northern Ontario up 3-2 after six ends, Johnson wrested control of the match away from Gobeil and his team of third Jeff Simpkins, second Dennis Smith, and lead Pete LeDrew by scoring three in the seventh to go up 5-3.
Northern Ontario, which had beaten Alberta 9-8 during the round-robin, scored one in the eighth and then stole one in the ninth to tie the game before finally succumbing to Johnson.
Gobeil’s crew, which had finished first with a 9-2 mark (breaking a three-way tie by virtue of winning the closest-to-the-button competition prior to the round-robin), doubled Ontario’s Garth Mitchell 8-4 in the #1 vs. #2 match on Friday afternoon to advance directly to the final.
The game looked to be in Gobeil’s back pocket early as he jumped to a 6-1 lead after five ends.
Singles by Mitchell in the sixth, seventh, and eighth ends closed the gap, but Gobeil sealed the deal with a pair in the ninth before running Ontario out of rocks in the 10th.
Alberta downed B.C. 7-2 in the #3 vs. #4 clash Friday before eliminating Ontario from contention with a 5-3 win in Saturday morning’s semi-final.