Dan Falloon
Tim Nordin pulled out a “must win” this morning at the provincial men’s curling playdowns in Sudbury, edging first-place Brad Jacobs (Soo Curlers Association) by a 4-3 score.
But the Stratton rink didn’t get the help they needed to keep their Brier hopes alive.
Even if Nordin wins his last two round-robin draws—this afternoon against Matt Dumontelle (Sudbury) and then tomorrow morning versus Bryan Burgess (Port Arthur), the best he can finish is at 5-6.
But two rinks who already have five wins—Port Arthur’s Art Lappalainen and John Salo of Geraldton—still have to play each other, meaning one of them will get to six wins to close the door on Nordin.
The top four teams advance to the Page playoff format starting tomorrow night, with Sunday’s winner advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier on March 6-14 in Halifax.
Two losses yesterday by Nordin and his rink of third Mitch Seguin, second Mike Badiuk, and lead Travis Showalter proved to be their undoing.
They fell 9-7 to Lappalainen in the afternoon draw before tumbling 9-6 to previously-winless Alan Belec (Soo Curlers Association) yesterday evening.
Ironically, after losing to the bottom team last night, Nordin beat the front-runner this morning in knocking off Jacobs.
In yesterday’s seesaw battle with Lappalainen, Nordin was unable to overcome not having the hammer in two of the last three ends after battling back to tie the score at 6-6 through seven.
Lappalainen scored a single in the first but Nordin responded with a deuce in the second to take a 2-1 lead.
The advantage was short-lived, however, as Lappalainen stormed back with three in the third to vault ahead 4-2.
After blanking the fourth, Nordin rallied with a single in the fifth before Lappalainen got a deuce in the sixth to make it 6-3.
But Nordin wouldn’t roll over—scoring three in the seventh to tie the score.
Lappalainen took the lead for good with a pair in the eighth. The teams then exchanged singles in the ninth and 10th ends to close out the scoring.
In the nightcap, Belec came out firing, building up a 4-0 lead thanks to three in the second and a steal of one in the third.
Nordin responded with deuces in the fourth and sixth ends while Belec managed only a single in the fifth.
The wheels came off for Nordin in the seventh, though, as Belec put four on the board to surge ahead 9-4.
Nordin came back with a pair in the eighth to come within 9-6, but the rinks then shook hands.
In this morning’s draw, Nordin jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair in the second, but Jacobs countered with a single in the third.
The teams blanked the fourth, then exchanged singles in the fifth and sixth to keep Nordin ahead 3-2.
Holding the hammer, Nordin blanked both the seventh and eighth ends before scoring one in the ninth to go up 4-2.
He then held Jacobs to a single in the 10th to preserve the narrow victory.
