Lucas Punkari
After earning a pair of wins Tuesday to breathe life into his playoff hopes at the Northern Ontario men’s curling championship, three-straight losses have dashed any Brier hopes for the Tim Nordin rink from the Stratton Curling Club.
Nordin’s foursome, which also includes third Mitch Sequin, second Adam Bolen, and lead Travis Showalter, fell 8-4 to Mike Assad (Port Arthur Curling Club) in nine ends this morning to sit at 2-6 heading into their next draw tonight at the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay.
Joe Scharf (Fort William Curling Club), who led the 12-team field with a 7-0 record starting play today, had edged Nordin 8-6 yesterday morning.
Things then went from bad to worse for Nordin in the afternoon draw as he was throttled 7-1 by previously winless David MacInnes (Englehart Curling Club).
Yesterday’s losses quashed any momentum Nordin had built up Tuesday when he earned his first two wins of the week.
The first came in the afternoon draw as Nordin doubled Dustin Montpellier (North Bay) 6-3, with a four-ender in the eighth proving to be the decisive blow.
Nordin followed that up by edging Robbie Gordon (Sudbury) 6-5.
Meanwhile, the John Salo rink (Geraldton), which includes Devlin native Mike Badiuk at lead, still is very much in the hunt as they sat tied for fourth place with three other rinks at 4-3 heading into play today.
After suffering a 7-1 shellacking in six ends to defending champ Brad Jacobs (Sault Ste. Marie) on Tuesday afternoon, Salo lost his second-straight after giving up two points in the 10th end to fall 9-7 to Mike Pozihun (Port Arthur Curling Club) yesterday morning.
But the Salo foursome, which also consists of third Kris Leupen, second Cory Nephin, and fifth Kurt Pristanski, snapped their brief losing skid with a 7-5 win over Mike Jakubo (Copper Cliff Curling Club) later yesterday.
Salo literally swiped the victory away from Jakubo thanks to consecutive steals in the seventh, eighth, and ninth ends.
Salo faced Assad this afternoon (the outcome wasn’t known at press time), then will square off with Nordin tonight.
The playdowns will wrap up Sunday, with the winner earning a berth to next month’s Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ont.
