THUNDER BAY – Brian Adams Jr. dug himself a huge hole in Draw 4 play at the Northern Ontario Men’s Curling championship.
After three ends, he found himself down 5-0 to fellow Thunder Bay skip Chris Silver, facing the real possibility of being relegated to the last-chance, lose-and-you’re-out C-side in the triple-knockout format event, being contested this week at the Port Arthur Curling Centre.
Cue the comeback.
Adams rallied with three in the third, cutting the gap to 5-3, then stole a single in the fifth that left the foursome down just one with half a match to play.
After Silver was forced to one in the sixth, Adams evened things up with a deuce in the seventh, then took the lead in the eight with a steal of one.
Silver tied it up, but with hammer, Adams Jr. took the game 9-7 to remain on B-side.
Silver dropped to C with the loss, and cannot afford another defeat the rest of the week or else his team will be eliminated.
Adams, whose team includes lead Joel Adams, second Mark Koivula and third Colin Koivula, takes on Thunder Bay’s Gary Weiss on Thursday afternoon.
Weiss needed just six ends to secure his second win in three games, downing Thunder Bay’s Frank Morissette 10-2, scoring three in the first and fourth ends and four more in the sixth to send the wily veteran to the C-side bracket.
In the only other Draw 4 match, Thunder Bay’s Zach Warkentin scored three in the fifth and three in the seventh to down Kenora’s Dustin Kroeker, who joins Morissette in the C-side.
Warkentin tackles North Bay’s Jeff Brown on Thursday afternoon.
In A-side play on Thursday in the men’s event, defending champion Trevor Bonot tangles with Sandy MacEwan and John Epping will take on Thunder Bay’s Dylan Johnston.
In C-side, Morissette will play Sault St. Marie's Matthew Hunt and Silver and Kroeker will also match up.
In women’s action on Thursday morning, Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville (1-0) plays Laura Johnston and Claire Dubinsky plays Robyn Despins in an all-Thunder Bay match.
