Another year of the Kootenay Savings Super League came to a close at the Trail Curling Club last week, with a familiar name at the top of the heap.
The A Final featured a rematch of last year, with Team Ken Fines trying to exact revenge on Team Bedard Excavating, skipped by Deane Horning. Horning chose to blank the first end, then was forced to take one in the second with an open hit. Fines was under pressure in the third, but calmly drew to the button staring at three Bedard stones touching the four-foot. Horning blanked the fourth, and was in trouble in the fifth before running a double take-out with his last rock to lay three and a 4-1 lead.
The turning point in the tightly played game came in the eighth. With Horning laying two rocks buried, Skip Ken attempted a run back raise takeout that just overcurled for the Bedard steal of two and a commanding 7-2 lead. Fines was able to get two back in the ninth, but Team Bedard played a perfect 10th end, running Team Fines out of rocks to preserve the 7-4 victory. Team Bedard Excavating is made up of Skip Horning, third Don Bedard of Grand Forks, second Kevin Nesbitt and Lead Nicole Beetstra.
The two top regular season teams, Team Bill van Yzerloo and Team Myron Nichol faced off in the B Final. Van Yzerloo blanked the first, and was sitting two slightly buried on the four foot when he came in too far with his first rock, tapping the four-foot stones around, and leaving a perfect pocket for Myron to plant his last rock, that van Yzerloo couldn’t blast out for a Nichol steal.
Skip Myron had draw weight in his back pocket, making perfect guards in the third and fourth for two more steals and a 3-0 lead. Nichol looked to steal again in the fifth, laying two slightly buried in the four-foot, but van Yzerloo made a precise take-out through a tight hole, to hit and stay for one. Team Van Yzerloo was looking to steal two or three in the sixth, with rocks in the four-foot, but Skip Bills last rock guard slightly over-curled, sliding too far into the eighth foot to now lay four, but leaving a quarter of the button exposed, which Nichol calmly froze to, cutting Van Yzerloo out of three points for only a single steal. That seemed to deflate Team van Yzerloo, as Nichol stormed back with a large three, then stole the next end for a hand shaking 8-2 win.
Team Albo, skipped by Dennis Schlender were taking on Team Brian Lemoel in one of the C Consolation matches. In a tight, low-scoring affair, the teams traded singles to start, followed by two Albo blanks. Skip Schlender made a delicate come around tap for two in the fifth for 3-1 lead. Team Albo grabbed the even end advantage with a steal in the sixth, then forced Lemoel to draw to the four-foot for one in the seventh. Team Albo went back up by four when Schlender executed a perfect Raise take-out to lay two. Lemoel closed the gap with his own two in the ninth, but was run out of rocks in the 10th, for a 6-4 Team Albo win.
Team Sitkum IT, skipped by Nando Salviulo, played Team Heather Nichol in the other C Consolation game. It was a back and forth entertaining game, with Nichol stealing one in the first, then Skip Nando made a come around tap for two in the third after blanking the second. Team Nichol jumped back in the lead with a hit and stay for two in the fourth and a 3-2 lead. Sitkum blanked the next two ends, and tried to blank the seventh, but didn’t roll far enough, to tie the game at three-all. The same fate followed Team Nichol in the eighth, as their attempt to blank resulted in a hit and stay for one.
Team Sitkum took back the lead with an open hit for three in the ninth, but couldn’t run Team Nichol out of rocks, as Heather drew for two to tie the game. To break the tie, there was a total point team draw to the button, but after all eight rocks were thrown, the match was still tied. So, it came down to just Skips’ draw to the button. Skip Heather went first, and drew the rock a respectable 27 cm away from the center pin, but Nando didn’t feel any pressure, placing his draw on the button for the win.
Thanks to Trail Times Correspondent Richard Faunt for providing the Kootenay Savings Super League updates, best of luck at the Masters.