REGINA – Trevor Bonot is starting to make a few believers.
The Thunder Bay skip on Monday stole a single in the ninth to tie Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher 5-5, then made a clutch double takeout with his final stone, leaving a draw to the four-foot for the win for his opponent.
Bottcher came up short and Bonot escape with a 6-5 triumph, handing Alberta their first loss of the Montana’s Brier.
“It’s incredible to bounce back after we had a tight one last night,” said Bonot during the post-game media scrum.
“We knew, come out, play our game, stay patient and be gritty and make people make shots and that’s what we did today and we came out on top.”
Bonot, third Mike McCarville, second Jordan Potts and lead Kurtis Byrd improved to 3-1 and sit in second place in the Pool A standings, tied with Bottcher, who had yet to lose in three outings heading into Monday’s Draw 8.
Bottcher had control for most of the match and never trailed until the final shot came to rest short of the rings.
The two teams traded deuces in the second and third ends, with Bottcher taking a 4-2 lead in the fifth with his second double of the match.
Bonot was held to a single in the sixth and eighth and trailed 5-4 as the ninth end arrived.
"Really the game plan was just to make anyone make a shot to win. We didn't really have much else we could do on my last (shot), we just did the best we could. We just got lucky he came up light," Bonot said.
The Team Northern Ontario skip, playing in his first Brier, made a double takeout with his last in the ninth, leaving Bottcher with a double takeout for a possible two. He only moved one rock far enough and Bonot snagged the steal of one, evening the game.
Team Bonot takes on Ontario’s Scott Howard (2-2) on Tuesday morning and finishes the day with B.C.’s Catlin Schneider in the evening draw.
