THUNDER BAY – Trevor Bonot is hoping for a year of firsts.
He got his championship hopes started on the right foot on Saturday, skipping his way to his first Tbaytel Major League of Curling title as a skip – though he did win one in 2018 subbing as the fourth on Al Hackner’s title-winning squad.
Bonot scored three in the fifth end and stole three more in the sixth to put the championship match away, downing two-time champion skip Dylan Johnston’s team 8-1 at the Port Arthur Curling Centre.
He and his teammates, lead Kurtis Byrd, second Jordan Potts and third Mike McCarville, will have three days to celebrate before hitting the road on Tuesday for Little Current, Ont. and the Northern Ontario playdowns, one of 14 teams hoping to represent the region at the Brier later this year. Bonot made the semifinal last year, but came up short, and is still looking for his first provincial men's title.
“It feels pretty good. We’ve had a good season, so far. We were pretty consistent and near the top of the standings most of the year, so it feels good to finish it off,” Bonot said.
The top seed heading into the one-day playoff round, the former Canadian mixed curling champion knocked off Chris Silver in the opening round and took out legendary skip Al Hacker 6-2 in the semifinal.
Johnston, who squeaked into the championship round with a triple takeout that required a measurement to secure the extra point needed to claim a playoff spot, edged Krista McCarville 7-5 in the quarterfinals and needed an extra end to oust defending champion Brian Adams Jr. 3-2 in the semifinal.
Bonot said staying patient was the key to Saturday’s win.
“I think that was a big difference,” he said of the three he snagged in the fifth end, Johnston leaving his opponent a hit-and-stick for the points.
“We also had an opportunity in the third end and we took advantage of it. I think when we had the opportunities today, in the final especially, we took advantage and that was the difference.”
Once he took a 5-1 lead, Bonot got aggressive in the sixth.
Johnston had hammer, but Bonot clogged up the rings, circling the button in the four-foot. Johnston eyed an angle-raise triple takeout as an escape route on his final shot, but flashed and, facing an 8-1 deficit, opted to shake hands, the lead too large to realistically overcome.
“It’s great. This league is awesome. I’ve been playing in this league for 20-plus years and it’s not easy to win. There’s lots of great teams out there. The best part about it is there are lots of great people,” McCarville said. “We get to battle it out all season long and it’s nice to come out on top today.”
It just wasn’t Team Johnston’s day.
After forcing Bonot to a single in the second, they gave up a steal in the third, failing to remove a guard, which provided cover for the eventual champions to bury a stone. Johnston tried to raise a guard and remove both stones to secure the blank, but the shot was slightly off and Bonot added a steal of one.
In the fourth, trailing 2-0, Johnston again wanted to blank, but hit-and-stuck instead, the mistake cutting Bonot’s lead in half, but also gave them back the hammer, which they made the most of in the fifth.
