Al Hackner has sent his share of chills down the spines of opposing skips over the years, but Lorne Jackson of Fort Frances melted “The Iceman” with some cunning thievery last night.
Steals in the ninth and 10th ends gave Jackson (2-0) a 7-5 victory at the North Western Ontario Curling Association men’s playdowns in Kenora, and all but guaranteed his place in this weekend’s double-knockout round.
The event will determine the three qualifiers who advance to the provincial playdowns Feb. 3-9 at the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay.
Hackner (1-2) stole one in the seventh to take a 5-4 lead, but Jackson and his team of third Don DeBenedet, second Derek Jackson, and lead Wayne Beacham battled back to tie it in the eighth.
With Hackner holding the hammer, Jackson denied the former world champ a second-consecutive victory by nabbing a single point in the ninth, then repeating the feat in the final end to seal the win.
Jackson beat Ken Blackwood (Terrace Bay) 9-6 earlier yesterday, using the hammer to great advantage by scoring three in the 10th to break a 6-6 tie.
The local skip tackled fellow 2002 provincial finalist Ron Rosengren (Fort William Curling Club) at noon today—and a victory would put Jackson into the double-knockout round (the score was unavailable as of press time).
Meanwhile, it’s a good news-bad news scenario for the other two district teams competing at the playdowns.
Skip Raymond Roy (Fort Frances) and his team of third Tim Nordin, second Bill Carroll, and lead John Commine started strong yesterday with an 8-6 win over Wayne Warkentin (Kenora) in the first draw.
A second victory was in Roy’s grasp later in the day as he held a 4-1 lead over Scott Henderson (Fort William Curling Club). But in what turned out to be a wild west shootout, Henderson rallied to take an 11-9 decision, with his three-ender in the ninth being the turning point.
The loss dropped Roy (1-1) to the ‘B’ side of the triple-knockout portion, where he challenged Michael Procyk (Red Lake) at noon today (that score also was unavailable by press time).
And Stratton skip Craig Armstrong and his rink of third Bryan Bonot, second Terry Lee, and lead Mark Loney are on the ropes—and will have to get hot in a hurry to advance to the double-knockout stage.
Armstrong (1-2) was trounced 10-4 by Bruce Melville (Port Arthur Curling Club) in his opener yesterday, but rebounded to beat Jeff Zechner (Nipigon) 7-2 in eight ends.
After scoring two in the first, Armstrong picked up singles in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth ends to pull away before forcing handshakes with another single in the eighth.
But leading 5-3 over Bryan Burgess in this morning’s early draw, Armstrong watched his Fort William Curling Club opponent charge back with three in the sixth, one in the seventh, and three in the eighth for a 10-8 victory.
Armstrong next squares off with Hackner in the 3:30 p.m. draw today, with the loser being bounced from the competition.
The playdowns conclude Sunday afternoon.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
