Staff
The OFSAA curling championships will be a Muskie-free zone this year.
The two Fort High rinks were unable to advance from the NWOSSAA championships in Sioux Lookout earlier this week, with both taking home silver medals.
Skip Hailey Beaudry and her crew of third Nicole Hartlin, second Erin Tomalty, and co-leads Tory and Anika Beaudry won’t get a chance at a second-straight OFSAA appearance after finishing second with a 4-1 record.
The Sioux Lookout Warriors, skipped by Jenna Poirier, beat the Muskies 9-4 in their opening game Sunday evening.
That ended up being the de facto championship final as the Warriors remained unbeaten over the next two days to capture the NWOSSAA title with a 5-0 record.
The Muskies bounced back Monday with a 9-2 win over the Superior Collegiate Gryphons (Thunder Bay), as well as one against the Chapleau Raiders (score unavailable), before dumping the Hammarskjold Vikings (Thunder Bay) 8-2.
Beaudry then downed the Nipigon-Red Rock Lakers on Tuesday (score unavailable) to set up a possible tie-breaker showdown with the host Warriors.
But Poirier avoided an upset against Chapleau to clinch the title and a berth in the all-Ontarios on March 9-12 in Brighton.
Meanwhile, the Muskie boys’ rink of skip Chris Silver, third Kurt McGuire, second Reece Jones, lead Davis Jackson, and fifth Matthew Nowak also finished in the runner-up spot after falling 2-1 to the Westgate Tigers (Thunder Bay) in the four-end tie-breaker.
It was revenge for skip Christopher Perozak, who was eliminated by Silver at the Bantam boys’ provincial showdown here earlier this month.
Silver, Perozak, and the Rainy River Voyageurs all finished the round-robin with identical 3-1 records.
In a draw from a hat, Westgate being picked to earn a bye to the final while the Muskies and Owls had to face off in the semi-final.
Fort High prevailed 4-1 to advance to the final, but then lost on a perfect draw to the button by Perozak with his last rock.
The Muskies dropped their first game 7-1 to Rainy River on Sunday night.
But they rebounded to beat Hammarskjold 9-2 and Westgate 6-5 on Monday.
Then they dumped the Lake Superior Stingers (Terrace Bay) 9-1 in six ends in Tuesday’s round-robin finale.
