UPDATED: Team BC posts pair of wins to keep pace spot in 2016 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Playoff Round
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Team BC lead Fred Thomson told The Nelson Daily on the eve of the Championship round the rink ws “feeling pretty good” about its game at the 2016 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championships in Digby, Nova Scotia.
Thursday, the rink was on full display, posting a pair of wins to climb into third spot in Championship standings.
Skip Bob Ursel and third Dave Stephenson, both of Kelowna, second Don Freschi of Trail and lead Fred Thomson of Nelson opened the day by defeating former Brier champ Ed Lukowich of Alberta 6-4.
A steal of three in the fifth broke open a close game, allowing Team Ursel to capture the win.
In the afternoon draw, Ursel defeated another former Brier rep, outlasting Brad Heidt of Saskatchewan 5-3.
Trailing 2-1 after five ends, Ursel put up a three-spot on the board in the sixth end to take a 4-2 lead. Heidt scored a single in the seventh before Ursel added a single in the eighth for the two-point victory.
Ursel now meets Bryan Cochrane of Ontario (6 a.m. PDT) and Matt Neufeld of Manitoba (10 a.m. PDT) Friday to complete the Championship round draw.
Finishing in the top four guarantees Ursel a spot in Saturday’s playoff round.
The winners advance to the final later in the day for the Canadian title.
Team BC advances at 2016 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championships
Team BC qualified for the Championship round after splitting a pair of games on Day three of the 2016 Canadian Senior Men’s Curling Championships Wednesday in Digby, Nova Scotia.
Skip Bob Ursel and third Dave Stephenson, both of Kelowna, second Don Freschi of Trail and lead Fred Thomson of Nelson opened the day by throttling Rod MacDonald of PEI 9-1 in five ends.
However, Team BC surrendered a four spot in the first end against undefeated Alan O’Leary of host Nova Scotia en route to dropping a 8-5 decision to conclude the preliminary round tied for second spot in Pool B with a 4-2 record.
“Tonight we were unfortunately not to have a better result,” Ursel’s third, Fred Thomson told The Nelson Daily.
“I thought we actually outplayed them. We had a couple cracks at some big ends, but it just didn’t happen.”
Ursel climbed back into the game against O’Leary, scoring a deuce in the second before stealing a single in the third to make the score 4-3.
However, the O’Leary rink registered single points in the next three ends to rebuild the lead to 7-3, a margin to great to overcome for Team BC.
“We had a chance to score three and tie it in the sixth, but Bob (Ursel) just missed his shot,” Thomson explained. “That’s a shot Bob usually makes all the time.”
O’Leary and Bryan Cochrane of Ontario, winners of Pool B and A, respectively, now carry undefeated records into the seeding round, which begins Thursday.
At press time, tournament officials had not posted the final draw. The only thing Team BC knew was that all championship rinks play at 9 a.m. local time, and the Ursel rink would be up against one of four Pool A teams include Ontario’s Cochrane, Randy Newfeld of Manitoba, Ed Lukowich of Alberta or Brad Heidt of Saskatchewan.
“Even though we lost twice I thought we’re playing pretty good as a team,” Thomson said.
“We’re feeling pretty good and we just want to get one of the four spots in the playoff round,” Thomson added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s first or fourth, we just want to get into the next round.”
Thomson said Team BC is slated to have its game Live Streamed Thursday at 5 a.m. PDT.
The game can be seen using this link.
Comments