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Trail rink takes third at provincials

Ferguson foursome reaches semifinal at senior men’s.

The Rob Ferguson rink from Trail is coming home with a bronze medal from the B.C. senior men’s curling championship in Kamloops.The rink, which includes Brian LeMoel, Mark Buerge and Terry Bublitz, posted a 4-3 record in round robin, which qualified them for Friday’s playoff bracket.Their first playoff match was against Dean Thulin of Campbell River, who finished tied with Ferguson with a 4-3 record.Thulin jumped out to a 6-1 lead after six ends but Ferguson staged a huge rally.After scoring two in the seventh, the Trail rink stole single points in the eighth, ninth and 10th ends to force an extra end.Ferguson completed the comeback with a steal of two for the 8-6 win and advance to the semifinal against Richmond’s Greg McAulay.Once again the local rink found itself facing a big comeback after falling behind 8-2 after six ends. Ferguson scored three in the seventh but McAulay answered with four in the eighth en route to a 12-5 win.Waiting for McAulay in the final was the Kelowna foursome skipped by Gary Gelowitz.But McAulay, a former world champion, maintained his form and rolled to an 8-3 win to capture the B.C. title.Myron Nichol of Castlegar skipped another local entry. He finished seventh overall with a record of 2-5.In the senior women’s provincial, the Deb deTremaudan rink of Trail never got untracked finishing winless with a 0-7 record.Four-time B.C. champion and Trail native Kathy Smiley also struggled with her Royal City rink finishing seventh with a 3-4 record.The ladies final saw Qualicum’s Lynn Noble defeat Vancouver’s Sheryl Miller 7-4.The Noble and McAulay rinks will represent B.C. at the national championships March 19-26 in Nova Scotia.