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Seniors curling championship opens with exciting first draw

Great shots led to riveting results in the opening draw of the BC Seniors curling championship
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If the opening draw of the 2019 BC Senior Curling championship is an indication of things to come, then Trail is in for a thrilling ride.

Six of the eight games were tied coming down to the final end, and the Men’s Koffski and Marshall match needed an extra end to decide the winner.

Yet, it was much anticipated match up between the defending champion Craig Lepine rink playing another perennial favourite in Vancouver Island’s Wes Craig that really saved the best for last.

Craig came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the seventh end, and was poised to steal the eighth and final end.

Skip Wes Craig made a great draw with his final rock to have three consecutive stones buried in the four foot, with the middle rock resting on the button. The only shot for Lepine was a difficult in-off a Craig rock sitting pin-high on the eight foot.

Throwing big weight, his final rock banked off Craig’s stone, and rolled right to the button, knocking out the shot rock for a Lepine 4-3 victory.

Pandemonium likely would have ensued if it wasn’t just the first game.

In the other match ups, Rob Koffski scored two in the eighth end to tie Doug Marshall’s Chilliwack foursome, but Marshall with hammer won it in the extra end.

Kootenay Team Bill van Yzerloo scored two in the eighth end to beat Team Macdonald 8-6, while the other Kootenay Men’s team skipped by Tom Buchy lost to Steve Wright’s rink 6-3.

On the Women’s side, Cranbrook’s Team Romeo scored three in the second end on their way to a 6-5 victory over Team Ernst from Quesnel, while the other Kootenay rink, skipped by Heather Nichol, came back from a 4-1 deficit to tie it with a steal in the seventh, only to be run out of rocks in the final end by Chilliwack’s Lisa Deputan in a 5-4 win.

Sheila Cowan’s Royal City-Delta Thistle team were in tough against Team Leslie Shearer from Nanaimo but held off a late charge for a 6-5 win.

Another highly anticipated match up between Team Marilou Richter of Penticton-Kamloops and the Karen Anderson team from Kelowna didn’t disappoint. Anderson stole a single in two to go up 2-0 but Richter replied with a deuce in the third end. The back-and-forth matchup continues with the teams going into the final end deadlocked at 4-4. However, Richter with hammer, scored two for the 6-4 win.

Draw 2 goes at 11 a.m. with Romeo playing Deputan, Anderson versus Shearer, Richter faces Cowan, and Nichol against Ernst.

On the Men’s side, the two Kootenay teams of Buchy and van Yzerloo go head-to-head on sheet D, Macdonald takes on Wright, Koffski plays Craig, and Marshall versus Lepine.

The Opening Ceremonies hit the ice at 5:30 p.m. with the third draw scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight.

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15633297_web1_190220-TDT-Heather-Nichol


Jim Bailey

About the Author: Jim Bailey

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