Muskie boys snare OFSAA curling berth

Harry Houdini would have been proud of this escape act.
With elimination staring them straight in the face all day, the Muskie boys’ curling squad pieced together four-straight wins, including a 6-3 victory over the Dryden Eagles in the final, to capture the NWOSSAA crown yesterday in Red Lake.
“I don’t know if they were more pumped, or if I was,” said overjoyed Muskie coach Tom Fry. “The kids executed almost perfectly in their last two games.”
Skip Adam Bolen and his team of third Brendon Loney, second Jason Pattison, and leads Joey Wensley and David Kaun entered play yesterday with a 1-1 record after an 8-6 win over Dryden and a 7-6 loss to Port Arthur (Thunder Bay) on Monday.
Then all appeared lost after Nipigon-Red Rock beat the Muskies 7-4 in Tuesday morning’s opening draw to leave the black-and-gold at 1-2—and in desperate need of wins and help from the other teams to survive.
But survive they did, beating St. Ignatius (Thunder Bay) 7-3 and then trouncing Lake Superior 8-2. And when Dryden edged Port Arthur 7-5 in the final draw of the round-robin, it set up a three-way playoff between those two teams and the Muskies, with Dryden earning the bye to the final.
With playoff games consisting of only four ends, Fort Frances knew it had to come out fast against Port Arthur in the semi-final. And they did just that earning a 6-0 win in three ends to set up the rematch with Dryden.
Leading 4-3 after three ends, but with the Eagles holding the hammer (last rock advantage), Bolen and his mates took control of the end early and left Dryden only a difficult draw shot against two Muskie stones to save their bacon.
When the rock slid too far, the resulting steal of two confirmed the Muskies’ reservation at the all-Ontarios in St. Thomas on March 19-21.
Skip Bill Crewson, third Chris Matheson, second Tyler Bell, lead Matt Gushulak and fifth Joel Perron, coach by RobRoy Donaldson, were the last Muskie curling rink to advance to OFSAA, winning silver in Midland in 1998.
“We went into the season wanting to make NWOSSAA,” said Fry. “OFSAA is just a bonus.
“We have no idea what to expect going down there,” he added. “I’ve never been there myself, and I know Fort Frances has sent some good teams in the past and hasn’t won.
“It’s going to be a tough road.”
Meanwhile, the Muskie girls’ squad of skip Amy Nielson, third Kate Bondett, second Katie Bolen, and lead Jenna Enge just missed out on a podium finish yesterday, losing 9-0 to Westgate (Thunder Bay) to end up fourth with a 2-3 record.
“The girls played well,” Fry said about the youngest team in the field. “They were in against tough competition.
“They had an excellent run against Red Lake, losing in the extra end [9-8],” he noted. “They were just a little overmatched. They’ll be here next year.”
After the Red Lake loss, the Muskies drilled Manitouwadge 10-2 before losing 9-3 to St. Ignatius (Thunder Bay).
The team rallied for a 10-2 rout over Michpicoten (Wawa) before finishing the round-robin with the decisive loss to Westgate.
“The nice part was the girls were disappointed they didn’t get third place, but they were genuinely happy for the guys when they won,” said Fry.