Staff
Kathie Jackson decided missing out on a chance at national curling glory last year was not something she was going to settle for this year.
The Fort Frances skip and her rink of third Teresa McFayden, second Jacquee Loerzel and lead Leanne Eluik dumped Jodi Judd of Thunder Bay 8-3 in the final of the Travelers Curling Club Championship provincial women’s playdowns in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday.
Jackson and McFayden will make their second trip in three years to the Travelers national finals in Ottawa from Nov. 23-28 after going two years ago with second Lisa Penner and lead Kris Sinclair.
Loerzel and Eluik joined the veteran tandem at the start of this season to form a quartet which nearly didn’t even make it to the playoffs in the Soo.
Judd started off with a steal of one in the first to try and rattle Jackson early.
That worked about as well as an umbrella in a hurricane, as Jackson and Co. fired back with three in the second and then turned into broom-wielding thieves.
A steal of one in the third was followed by a robbery of two more in the fourth and again in the fifth to put Jackson firmly in control at 8-1.
Judd grabbed one in the sixth and stole one in the seventh, but ran out of rocks in the eighth to give Jackson the victory.
Three deuces for Judd, including a steal of two in the fifth, to send Jackson to a 7-3 defeat in the opening game for both teams.
Jackson then built a 6-1 lead through four ends against Karen Saaramaki (Geraldton) before having to hold off a late rally to win 6-5.
The Fort crew never got off the ground in their third game of the day on Friday, as Amber Sayer (New Liskeard) stole three deuces and a single in four straight ends to wipe out Jackson 8-0 in six ends.
Another loss would have ended any hope of making the final for Jackson, who along with her team turned things around on what was a super Saturday.
First, the Fort crew gutted out a 6-5 win over Alisha Bergeron (Espanola) which went to a rare second extra end after Jackson blanked the first.
Then, facing a 4-0 deficit after three ends against Melanie Patry (Coniston), Jackson scored three in the fourth before giving up two more in the fifth to trail 6-3.
But a Jackson five-ender in the sixth pushed her to her first lead of the game at 8-6 and a steal of one in the seventh capped off a 9-6 win to put her at 3-2 and tied for second with Sayer behind Judd (5-0) in first.
The subsequent tiebreaker on Saturday night saw Jackson construct a 4-0 lead after three ends before giving it all back when Sayer notched a four-ender in the fourth.
But Jackson put the sledgehammer down in the fifth, nabbing another five-spot.
When Sayer could only manage one in the sixth, she gave up the ghost to hand Jackson a 9-5 decision and a rematch with Judd.
Meanwhile, Stratton product Adam Bolen also represented the Fort Frances Curling Club in the men’s division at the Travelers provincials, ending up in fourth and out of the playoffs with a 2-3 mark.
Bolen and his rink of third Joedy Johnson, second Grant Swire and lead Johnny Yellowega also had the first-draw blues, losing 6-4 to Thunder Bay’s Russ Mellerup after trailing by only one and holding the hammer in the final end, but giving up a steal of one to lose.
The Fort side let one slip away in a 7-6 extra-end loss to Mike Assad (Geraldton).
Bolen surrendered a 5-2 advantage after four ends by giving up one in the fifth and steals of one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
A single with last rock put Bolen on even terms with Assad, but the opposing skip collected the single he needed in the extra end to finish things off.
Bolen put the boots to Steve Foley (New Liskeard) early, scoring a five-ender in the first to provide the foundation for an 8-3 triumph.
The local team kept itself in the hunt with a 7-5 defeat of Al Viel (Blind River), erasing a 3-0 deficit after three ends to pull off a 7-5 victory.
Copper Cliff’s Jason Strezelski turned out the lights for good on Bolen, ousting him from playoff contention with an 8-3 win.
Strezelski popped a three-ender in the second and then had back-to-back deuces in the fifth and sixth to bring about handshakes and the end of Bolen’s time at the tourney.
Assad slipped past Strelezki 4-3 to capture the men’s title.
