Staff
One blowout plus one nail-biter equals one good start.
Devlin’s Mike Badiuk and Travis Showalter from Nestor Falls played a large hand in helping Thunder Bay skip Dylan Johnston get off to a 2-0 start yesterday at the Northern Ontario men’s curling championship in Kenora.
With Badiuk at third and Showalter handling lead duties, Johnston smacked Bryan Burgess (Kakabeka Falls) 7-2 count to open play.
The evening draw against Sudbury’s Mike Jakubo was a more formidable challenge, with Jakubo scoring two in the sixth and stealing one in the seventh to lead 3-1.
But Johnston responded with a pair in the eighth to tie the game.
Jakubo then blanked the ninth and looked to be in good shape with hammer in the 10th.
But Johnston pulled off a steal of one to remain unbeaten.
The Thunder Bay rink is in heady company atop the standings after the first day of play.
Joining Johnston at 2-0 is defending Olympic gold-medalist Brad Jacobs (Sault Ste. Marie), who dumped fellow Soo curler Chris Glibota 6-1 in eight ends and then downed defending provincial champ Jeff Currie (Thunder Bay) 7-4 last night.
Also still unbeaten is two-time Canadian and world champion Al Hackner (Thunder Bay), who beat Currie 6-4 and Glibota 7-4 yesterday.
Johnston faced Glibota (0-2) this afternoon, then will meet Currie (0-2) in tonight’s draw.
The final is set for Sunday at 2 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary from Feb. 28-March 8.
