Staff
It was a game they will never forget.
Trouble is, the one that came after may end up being the same—for all the wrong reasons.
The Thunder Bay rink skipped by Dylan Johnston and featuring Devlin’s Mike Badiuk at third and Nestor Falls resident Travis Showalter at lead, pulled off a mighty upset by defeating reigning Olympic men’s champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie 8-5 in yesterday’s afternoon draw at the 2016 Travelers men’s provincial curling championship in North Bay.
But the fickleness of momentum reared its head in their second game last night, as Johnston was edged 7-6 by Thunder Bay’s Colin Koivula to fall into a sixth-place tie with Mattawa’s Patrick Gelinas at 1-3.
Coming off a semifinal appearance last year but off to an 0-2 start this week, Johnston gave up two to Jacobs in the first, but settled down with one in the third and a steal of two in the fourth to go in front 3-2.
Jacobs regained the lead with a deuce in the fifth before Johnston tied it with one in the sixth.
Johnston then held Jacobs to one in the eighth after Jacobs blanked the seventh and took two of his own in the ninth to lead 6-5.
In the 10th, with Jacobs holding the hammer, Johnston stunned the 2013 Brier champion and world championship silver medalist by stealing two to seal the deal and hand Jacobs his only loss so far.
Heading into the evening draw against Koivula riding a wave of confidence, Johnston took a single in the first, but gave up three in the third to fall behind by two in the all-Thunder Bay matchup.
An exchange of singles in the next two ends led to Johnston grabbing two in the sixth tie the game 4-4.
When Koivula only picked up one in the seventh, Johnston pounced with two in the eighth to move in front 6-5.
But unlike in the day’s first game, Johnston could not hold the lead this time.
Koviula notched a single in the ninth to tie things up again, then proceeded to steal another point and the game in the 10th to move into a four-way tie for first at 3-1 with Jacobs, Mike Assad (Geraldton) and Jordan Chandler (Sudbury).
Tanner Horgan (Copper Cliff) is fifth at 2-2, while Robbie Gordon (Sudbury) is in the basement behind Johnston and Gelinas at 0-4.
With only the top three making the playoffs, Johnston needs plenty of help from other teams while also trying to make hay against the two other lowest rinks in the standings, starting earlier today as he took on Gelinas (score unavailable at press time).
Johnston then goes up against Gordon in tonight’s evening draw.
Tomorrow morning, Johnston closes his round-robin portion by challenging Horgan.
The playoff round begins tomorrow, with the final set for Sunday afternoon.
