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Super League curling: Horning, Ferguson battle for top spot

Two draws hit the ice at the Trail Curling Club in Kootenay Savings Super League last week.

Two draws hit the ice at the Trail Curling Club in Kootenay Savings Super League last week.

With James MacKenzie and Team Castlegar Hyundai off to Kamloops for the Crown Of Curling Cash Spiel, it left the two undefeated heavyweights, Horning and Ferguson, to battle for top spot, in a game where the outcome was in doubt until the last rock.

Team Ferguson outplayed Team Horning early in the match, with only a cross-ice double to lay two by Horning in the first their lone bright spot. Ferguson blanked the second, scored his own deuce in the third, then stole singles in the fourth and fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Momentum started to swing in Horning’s favour in the sixth, when Ferguson’s last rock over-curled, leaving Deane a free draw for three.

Team Horning forced Ferguson to take one in the seventh, then blanked the eighth before Skip Horning, with only an inch of Ferguson’s shot rock showing, executed a perfect pick to take two, and a 7-5 lead coming home. Team Ferguson had a chance to tie with Rob’s last rock, but his hit and stay rolled agonizingly too far, scoring only one, and a 7-6 Horning victory.

The Junior Boys were again involved in another exciting match, this time with Team Fines.

Both teams threw caution to the wind, as skips Justin Umpherville and Ken Fines both played aggressively with many rocks in play. The see-saw battle saw four lead changes early, with Umpherville stealing two in the first, followed by a Fines open draw for four in the second. The Junior Boys bounced right back with three in the third, then with Fines facing five Umpherville stones in the fourth, his last rock draw was able to hold them down to only a steal of one, and a 6-4 Umpherville lead.

The game changed in Team Fines favour in the fifth, when Umpherville’s come-around tap bounced just enough to give Fines room to follow the same path, and tap the shot rock back to lay another big four.

Still playing aggressively, with a lot of guards in play, Team Fines stole singles in the sixth and seventh, before nailing the coffin shut with a steal of three in the eighth and a 13-6 win.