Roy advances to provincial mixed playdowns

Raymond Roy’s rink continued its winning ways at the district mixed curling playdowns in Kenora last weekend, finishing with a perfect 5-0 record to advance to the provincial playdowns here Dec. 10-12.
After nipping Tim Warkentin (Kenora) 8-7 in an extra end, Bob Whalen (Sioux Lookout) 9-3 in just six ends, and Jeff Henderson (Thunder Bay) 11-7, Roy found himself in a first-place showdown with Brian Burgess (Thunder Bay) on Friday night.
With both rinks sitting in a tie for first with 3-0 records, Roy knocked off Burgess 7-4, scoring a pair in the seventh end to snap a 3-3 tie. Then after giving up a single in the eighth, he scored another deuce in the ninth before running Burgess out of rocks in the 10th.
Roy said the key came in the fifth end when Burgess, who competed in the mixed provincial playdowns last year, missed a shot for two with a double-takeout.
That allowed Roy to steal one and grab a 3-2 lead at the time.
With a 4-0 record, Roy was slated to play winless Bob Dubreuil (Manitouwadge) on Saturday morning. But that game was forfeited to Roy based on the fact both teams already had locked up first and last place respectively.
Roy’s rink, which included third Kim Beaudry, second Wayne Beacham, and lead Stacy Beacham, curled almost flawlessly throughout the playdowns. While they rarely missed a shot, they also made several key ones along the way.
“We curled really well–our front end was solid,” said Roy, who also went undefeated at the Zone 7 playdowns in Rainy River the previous week.
“Kim [Beaudry] made at least three double-takeouts which were the key, especially in the Warkentin victory,” added Roy, making his first trip to the provincial mixed since 1990. “We played well.”
Roy will be hoping his rink continues to curl well when they play here next month although he admitted it won’t make much difference that they’re playing in front of a home crowd.
“At this level, it really doesn’t matter,” he noted. “We are going to be practising every day, playing twice a week, and we will be going our separate ways when the men’s and women’s playdowns are here this weekend.”