Joey Payeur
Andre Morin never should have woken the sleeping giant.
The Red Lake skip gave his Fort Frances counterpart, Chris Silver, more than a bit of trouble in the latter’s opening 8-7 win Friday at the Region 1 Bantam boys’ curling championships in Sioux Lookout.
Silver and his second/third rotating combination of Daniel Vandenbrand and Jason Bazylewski, along with Atikokan lead Griffin Garuk, made sure the rest of the weekend wasn’t nearly as suspenseful in going 4-0 to win the double round-robin event and qualify for the provincial playdowns Feb. 25-28 in Sault Ste. Marie.
The locals reeled off nine-, eight-, and eight-point victories after the nail-biting opener.
“The four guys hadn’t curled together at all before the weekend so it took the first game to feel each other out,” said coach Ron Silver, whose team didn’t allow a steal all weekend.
“They had a lot of bad breaks in that first game, but they didn’t let it bother them and kept plugging away.
“The other team [Morin] was on fire and made some beautiful shots,” Ron Silver added.
“But our guys put the pedal to the metal and really controlled the game the rest of the way.”
Silver’s crew feasted on Bradley Grenier (Sioux Lookout) 11-2 in six ends in the evening draw.
Morin was far less threatening Saturday in his second meeting with Silver, who jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three ends en route to a 9-1 victory in five.
Silver then blanked Grenier 8-0 in six ends—earning steals in the last five to finish the weekend outscoring his opponents by a combined score of 36-10.
“There were a few ends where the other team missed their shots but we always had the other team in difficulty,” Ron Silver recalled.
“The boys were shooting the lights out.”
Sioux Lookout also hosted the Region 1 Bantam girls’ playdowns, with a pair of Fort Frances rinks looking to advance to the provincials in the Soo.
But host team Cassidy Romyn wound up emerging victorious after going 3-1 in the double round-robin and then beating Anika Beaudry of Fort Frances 9-1 in six ends in the tie-breaker.
“This was the first weekend they curled together with that combination,” Bantam girls’ coach Kim Beaudry said about the group, which included third Tory Beaudry, second Jillian Cousineau, lead Katrina Slomke, and fifth Ashley Payne.
“They did very good, and just need some time and a little more practice together,” she reasoned.
“[Romyn] is not unbeatable,” Kim Beaudry stressed. “We just ran out of steam.”
It was bad luck in spades for the Beaudry rink in the tie-breaker, according to their coach.
“We had an unfortunate pick in the second when Anika had a wide-open hit and the rock just went sideways on Anika,” Kim Beaudry recounted.
“Then Tory had the same thing happen to one of her rocks in the third.
“I don’t really know where the problem was on the ice. But you have to learn to overcome these things and go forward,” she stressed.
“With some more experience, you learn to deal with it.”
The Beaudry rink started strong, blanking fellow Fort Frances skip Maggie Lemesurier 10-0 in six ends in the opener.
Beaudry then downed Romyn 7-4 in her second game.
Lemesurier and her crew of third Mackenzie Taylor, second Daffni Chabot, and lead Emma Bassett gave Beaudry a good fight in their rematch, leading 3-2 after four ends.
But Beaudry scored a deuce in the fifth, then a key steal of one in the sixth to eventually came away with a 6-4 win.
With the title nearly in her pocket, Beaudry couldn’t close out Romyn in their second encounter—allowing the last nine points in an 11-2 setback in six ends.
Lemesurier had no better luck against Romyn, losing 9-2 in seven ends in their first game against the host rink.
Then with a chance to push Beaudry into the provincials with a win, Lemesurier gave up back-to-back four-enders in falling 9-3 in six ends.
Both Beaudry and Lemesurier still can advance to the provincials through the last-chance West qualifier Feb. 5-7 in Nipigon.
