The Men’s Retiree Curling Club wrapped up its season last week with an exciting finish.
Going into the last game of the last session, team Drinnan was one point ahead of Fennell and two ahead of Secco and Rakuson.
Team Primo Secco faced team Brett Rakuson in that final game, the winner would need help from two other teams to force a tie breaker game. Team Rakuson was ahead 6-4 in the sixth end, but gave up four in the seventh. Team Secco then ran Rakuson out of rocks in the eighth for an 8-6 win.
Team Pat Fennell and the Harvey Handley foursome traded deuces for seven ends. Looking like a tie, Harvey’s last rock stayed wide and missed a takeout for two only scoring the single. With the win the Secco team’s dreams died.
Team Forrest Drinnan faced team Ernie Brown with an injured skip using a stick for the first time. It seemed like a slam dunk for team Drinnan.
Getting off to a 5-2 lead after three ends, confidence was high on the Drinnan side. Not giving up, team Brown narrowed the lead with two in the fourth, and a steal of five in the fifth gave them a commanding lead. Using the stick to hit everything he could see, team Brown cruised to a 12-7 victory.
Semi Finals: The winners of session one, Team Ernie Brown, faced the winners of session three, team Murray Walsh. Still using the stick, Ernie kept the ends clean and played a hitting game. Team Walsh battled but gave up a big fifth end steal. Brown up by three in the eighth end ran Walsh out of rocks to seal the victory and a birth in the playoffs.
The winner of session two was was Ernie Brown so the second place skip Clare Coleman took his place to face fourth session winner Pat Fennell. In the first end Jim Harold, Pat’s third fell and hurt his hand and despite the pain stayed in the whole game. In a very similar game to the other semi final, team Fennell was up three coming home and ran Coleman out of rocks.
Finals: First session team Ernie Brown, now throwing from the tuck, faced fourth session winner Pat Fennell.
Fennell without Jim Harold, due to a broken hand, suffered in the semifinal game, had third Mario Favaro from the second-place team. Opening with three successive steals team Fennell jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Team Brown stemmed the tide with singles in the fourth and fifth. But it was a short game as team Fennell with hammer in the sixth, scored a ‘bunch’.
After handshakes it was time for the entire club to sit down to wonderful dinner and say ‘see you next season!’