Ken Johnston
Even though they did earn a trip to the Tim Hortons Brier next month in Halifax, the Tim Nordin rink had a solid showing at the provincial men’s playdowns last week in Sudbury.
Skip Tim Nordin, who curls out of Rainy River Curling Club, along with third Mitch Seguin of Pinewood, second Mike Badiuk of Devlin, and lead Travis Showalter of Nestor Falls, finished last with a 2-9 record but had several close games, including losing their opener in an extra end.
“I could tell the guys were nervous before the first game . . . I was a bit but once we played [Sudbury’s Tim] Phillips and nearly beat him, we all settled down and thought maybe we will do all right.
“He [Phillips] has been to the Brier at least once before,” noted Nordin.
Nordin’s rink then lost their next three games, falling 8-4 to John Salo (Geraldton), 7-4 to Mike Pozihun (Port Arthur), and 8-5 to Joe Scharf (Port Arthur).
“While some of these losses look bad, they really weren’t,” argued Nordin. “We were just on the wrong side of the inch.
“Ninety percent of the time we were just short of scoring.”
Last Wednesday, the team broke through by handily defeating Mike Assad (Fort William) by an 8-2 score.
Nordin made an angle raise take-out to count two in the sixth end, then stole two in the seventh to prompt their opponents to shake hands.
Building on that win, Nordin then edged Robbie Gordon (Cobalt-Haileybury) 6-5 that night.
But their Brier hopes were dashed with a pair of narrow losses on Thursday, dropping a 9-7 decision to Art Lappalainen (Port Arthur) and losing 9-6 to Alan Belec (Soo Curlers Association).
“Had we been on the other side of the inches all week, I’d say our record could have been easily 7-4,” reasoned Nordin.
On Friday morning, they lost 5-4 to eventual champion Brad Jacobs (Soo Curlers Association).
“He beat us with the hammer,” explained Nordin after Jacobs broke a 4-4 tie with a single in the 10th to win.
Nordin’s rink then lost their final two games of the round-robin, falling 8-5 to runner-up Matt Dumontelle (Sudbury) later Friday and 8-2 to Bryan Burgess (Port Arthur) on Saturday morning.
“There was very tough competition there, with many of those guys having been to the Brier before,” Nordin said yesterday.
Having been to provincials twice before, Nordin said it was a great experience again and felt that the competition was tougher.
“The game has gotten harder since I went last,” he noted. “The game is played differently and you have to make your shots.”
Nordin had nothing but praise for his younger teammates.
“Once they settled down, they played very solid curling,” he lauded.
Nordin had felt his team was 6a dark horse going into the playdowns. And while none of the other teams said anything to them, those in the crowd did.
“We had people that had been watching all week come up and tell us we were a pretty solid team and that luck just wasn’t there [when it came to inches],” Nordin recalled.
“They also said we were very enjoyable to watch!”
The Nordin rink also had strong support from the district.
“They had e-mails set up there and we received so many encouraging messages,” said Nordin. “There was also strong financial support from the district. It was overwhelming.
“This district is such a great place to live,” he enthused. “People get so behind you when you do something.”
Nordin said he hopes to return to the provincials in coming seasons given his young lineup now has an idea of what the competition is all about.
“For sure!” he stressed. “It was so great and now that those young guys had a taste, I know they want more.”
