Mitch Calvert
It was an improbable victory, but one Emo’s Mark Loney and his rink certainly will remember for some time.
Loney was thrust into the skip’s role after Ken McKinnon had to bow out due to a family emergency just prior to the start of the annual “Icebox of the Nation” bonspiel at the Fort Frances Curling Club and did an admirable job, leading his team of Bill Enge, Sandy Haney, and fill-in Gary Gregory to a 7-3 win over Al Holt in Sunday’s final.
“I think we were underdogs all the way through, [but] everybody was making their shots, and a little bit of luck, too,” Loney said afterwards.
After Loney was held to one with the hammer in the first end, an excellent piece of angle mastery allowed him to steal one in the next end after his shot sat right on the button with one of Holt’s rocks directly in behind him.
“We got kind of lucky and it rolled in behind, but that’s just kind of the weekend we’ve had,” Loney conceded.
Loney added to his lead with a steal of two more in the third after Holt missed Loney’s stones completely with his last rock, leaving them alone in the rings.
“I think we ran out of a little gas here,” Holt said. “I take the blame, I missed a shot in the third end, flicked out two out-turns, which is usually my shot.
“They had the pressure on us right from the beginning, and we never really got any sustained pressure on them,” he added.
But with Loney lying two in the fourth end and looking at another chance to steal, Holt executed his best shot of the game, angling it off a guard and re-directing it right to the button through a maze of rocks.
“It was kind of a ‘Hail Mary’ shot,” Holt admitted.
“I was trying to angle it through the hole and it came up a little bit too much, and I actually didn’t see what happened but I think it wicked off my red and then off their yellow to the button, and gave us a little breath,” Holt added.
“It wasn’t exactly as we planned it, but the end result was how it was supposed to go so sometimes you get lucky.”
The rinks traded deuces in the fifth and sixth ends, then Loney added one more in the seventh to take a big lead to the final end.
The two teams shook hands midway through when Holt was run out of rocks.
“They’re good curlers,” Loney said of Holt’s rink. “I don’t think they curled up to their usual level, but it was a good game.”
Despite the loss, Holt said his crew of Loreen Holt, Terry Ogden, and Bob Derkson had a great bonspiel and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
“We had a heck of a game this morning [Sunday,” he noted. “Went to an extra-end, last rock [against Raymond Roy] to win.
“[Loney’s rink] played well,” Holt added. “I said to Gary Gregory filling in, ‘You missed one shot, and that was the last one in the last end.’
“It’s a good [bonspiel] to get things rolling,” he continued. “Christmas is over and people are looking for something to do.”
Loney’s rink made it the final with wins over Roger Moore, Craig Sanders, Anthony Smaha, and Tom Wherley while Holt’s rink beat Laurie Moxham, Adam Bolen, Duane Rostie, and then Roy.
