LITTLE CURRENT, Ont. – It’s do-or-die time for a trio of Thunder Bay rinks competing for the Northern Ontario men’s curling championship.
Bryan Burgess, nursing a 5-4 lead over North Bay’s Brad Minogue, surrendered a steal of five in the ninth end and dropped a 9-5 decision, his second loss in as many outings.
The defeat dropped him into the C-side bracket, with one more loss eliminating Burgess, lead Scott Shumka, second Tristan Vale and third Mike Vale, from contention.
Burgess led 5-2 after six ends, but gave up a single in the seventh and steal of one in the eighth before disaster struck in the ninth.
Skip Chris Silver is in the same boat. Trailing 5-4 through eight, after closing the gap to one with a steal of one in the seventh, he gave up four in the ninth and fell 9-4 to Sandy MacEwan, the runner-up in last year’s playdowns.
Thunder Bay’s Zach Warkentin also dropped into the last-chance C-side bracket, falling 7-5 to hometown favourite Jordan Chandler, who remains in the B-side bracket with just one loss in three outings.
In other action, Sudbury’s Ian Deschene picked up his second win of the tourney, downing Sault Ste. Marie’s Matt Hunt 10-7 in a B-side match. North Bay’s Malcolm O’Bright stayed alive with an 11-6 win over Sudbury’s Brendan Rajala, who was eliminated with his third loss of the event.
Rajala’s team includes Thunder Bay’s Adam Wiersema and Jackson Dubinsky.
Deschene will play Minogue and Chandler draws MacEwan on Thursday afternoon.
Thunder Bay’s Trevor Bonot and Brian Adams Jr. will look to stay undefeated in the afternoon draw. Adams Jr. takes on defending champion Tanner Horgan in one A-side semifinal, while Bonot gets Mike Assad in the other semifinal.
