Muskie rinks miss OFSAA bids

Unfortunately, the third time wasn’t a charm for the Muskie girls’ curling team.
Competing at NWOSSAA for the third time in four years, the Amy Nielson rink once again fell short of a berth to the all-Ontarios—winding up in second place after winning a tie-breaker yesterday afternoon.
“This is our last year together. We want to give it our best and we’re going to try our hardest at NWOSSAA,” Nielson had said after the NorWOSSA championships here Feb. 21-22.
Nielson, whose team included third Jenna Enge, second Kate Bondett, and lead Courtney Beadle, started out well at NWOSSAA, opening with wins over Red Lake (7-2) and Geraldton (7-3).
After falling 5-1 to Terrace Bay, the black-and-gold rebounded with a 6-1 victory over Port Arthur Collegiate (Thunder Bay).
That meant that had to beat St. Patrick’s (Thunder Bay) in their final match of the round-robin on Tuesday morning in order to claim a tie for top spot at 4-1.
Instead, St. Pat’s prevailed 10-4 to finish with a perfect 5-0 record, earning the trip to the all-Ontarios on April 4-7 in Timmins.
The loss left Fort High tied with PACI at 3-2, forcing the tie-breaker yesterday afternoon to determine second place, which the Muskies won 7-2.
Meanwhile, the Muskie boys’ rink, which featured skip David Kaun, third Mike Badiuk, second Lucas Keffer, lead Mike McKay, and spare Mike Sande, struggled at NWOSSAA, going winless in their five games.
They opened with a 7-3 loss to the Kenora Broncos, followed by a narrow 5-4 setback to Geraldton.
They then lost 8-2 to Marathon, 8-3 to defending OFSAA champion St. Ignatius (Thunder Bay), and 8-3 to Westgate (Thunder Bay).
Because St. Ignatius already had a berth to OFSAA as the defending champs, a second berth was awarded to NWOSSAA, which eventually was claimed by Geraldton.
The OFSAA boys’ playdowns will be held April 4-7 in Bancroft.