Trail Men’s Retiree Curling’s fourth draw saw teams jockeying for an early share of first place.
The Pat Fennel foursome edged out the Clare Coleman team to take a share of top spot with the Hall and Brown rinks all at 2-0.
With brilliant sweeping from its front end players, Fennel wielded a hot stick, forcing Clare into trying two incredibly tough shots in the eighth end to tie the game, but it was not to be as Fennel went onto the 8-6 win.
Team Ernie Brown jumped out to an impressive 5-0 lead after two ends over Primo Secco’s team. Up 10-7 in the seventh, Ernie drew to the button against a mitt full of Secco stones, and ran the Secco side out of rocks in eight to win 11-7.
The Tom Hall foursome faced Dan Horan’s team, and it was tight until the fourth end when the Hall side scored five. Dan’s team came back to be down one with hammer in the eighth end. It came down to Dan’s last rock, a hack weight hit, through a narrow port, to remove two Hall stones. Navigating the port, the Horan stone hit the Hall rock and jammed on the second stone to give Hall the 8–6 win.
Team Harvey Handley came out guns blazing, leading 6-0 after two ends. Frank Jorgensen’s team then went on a tear, scoring nine over the next six ends. A shell shocked Handley team could only manage a single and lost the game 9–7.
Murray Walsh’s team faced team Forrest Drinnan. Team Walsh nursed a first end score of three points throughout the game. Team Drinnan rallied to make it close but could not put together a big end. Make the final 7–5, Walsh.