Joey Payeur
Raymond Roy doesn’t believe in pointing fingers at others.
Rather, the Fort Frances skip was more than willing to shoulder the blame after a 7-1 loss in four ends Sunday to Gord Williams (Thunder Bay) in the final of the Masters (60-and-over) men’s provincial curling championship in Geraldton.
Williams and his team of third Ed Pedersen, second Ernie Surkan, and lead Ed Koivula advance to the Canadian Master men’s championship April 4-10 in Kentville and Wolfville, N.S.
“There’s an old axiom that the skip can’t win a game by himself but he can certainly lose it by himself,” noted Roy, who was joined by third Don DeBenedet, second Brent Taylor (Kenora), and lead Ian McLennan in what was their provincial Masters debut.
“I missed a couple of shots early and let them get out to the lead,” he remarked, referring to giving up a steal of two in the first end.
“When you start playing from behind, you have to take some extra chances and they can get a big end on you,” he added.
That end came in the third, with Roy having trimmed the lead to 2-1 with a single in the second.
“I tried a freeze and I was a little off-line,” recalled Roy, whose error allowed Williams an easy tap-out to score four and go up 6-1.
Another steal of one in the fourth by Williams had Roy’s rink looking for the exit.
“We all had a long drive back, especially Brent, so we said, ‘That’s it,’” said Roy, who had finished in top spot following the double round-robin format with a 3-1 record.
The locals gave up two in the final end in their opening 5-4 loss to Williams, then doubled Dave Barker (Geraldton) 10-5 in a wild affair.
Roy stole three to go up 4-0 after two ends, then gave the lead all back—and more—when Barker scored five over the next three ends.
Then the momentum swung back to Roy when he nabbed four in sixth, then stole two in the seventh to nail down the victory.
Roy got his revenge on Williams with an 8-4 win in his third game.
“[Williams] is very similar to our team,” said Roy. “They draw a little more than we would do in certain situations but they’ve got some skills.
“The difference in that game was we got the jump on him [up 6-2 after six].
“We forced the issue and getting that early lead helps our style, especially because there’s not a lot of time to come back when there’s only eight ends,” he added.
Roy capped off the preliminary round by pulling in front of Barker 4-0 after three and then holding on for a 6-4 triumph.
“We curled well in the round-robin and finished first to get the [last-rock] advantage in the final—we just didn’t use the advantage,” he lamented.
Roy and his team were in uncharted territory in terms of the minimal number of foes they had to try and overcome to advance to a national event.
“It’s very unusual,” the skip said about the three-team field.
“None of our team has ever played where we didn’t have to qualify to get to provincials.”
When it comes to taking another run at the Masters provincials next year, Roy said that choice won’t be likely made until next curling season.
“We want to take it one year at a time,” he laughed.
“Sometimes the mind is willing but the skills have deteriorated.”
