THUNDER BAY – Team Dubinsky is headed to the Ontario Winter Games U18 girls curling semifinal, the lone team in the field yet to suffer a defeat.
The Kakabeka Falls Curling Club foursome edged Deanna Chilton’s rink 4-3 on Sunday afternoon to finish the round robin at 5-0, their second win of the day after downing Katrina Frlan 6-1 in the noon-time draw at Fort William Curling Club.
The two wins clinched top spot in the field and a spot in one of two semifinal matches on Saturday, and guaranteed Team Dubinsky will play for a medal.
Only the colour they’re fighting for remains to be determined.
“This was a crazy game. There were lots of ups and downs, a couple broom smacks, a couple smiles, a couple frowns,” Dubinsky said. “But we’re feeling very confident about the next two games.
“We’ve played all the teams, we know their strengths and weaknesses and I think we have a great shot of winning this.”
Dubinsky, third Rylie Paul, second Bella McCarville and lead Lily Ariganello got off to a quick start. Dubinsky buried two stones and going for the double, Chilton could only remove one and gave up the steal of one.
They played for a blank in the second, but Chilton hit and stuck on her final rock and settled instead for a single, giving hammer back to Dubinsky.
Chilton ‘s third, Natalie Graham, flashed on her first shot and ultimately left Dubinsky with a draw for two, which she made, taking a 3-1 lead after three.
With tons of stones in the house, Chilton managed to sneak into shot rock position on her last, closing the gap to 3-2. The two teams traded singles in the seventh and then, with nothing in the house, Chilton was heavy on her final shot, sailing through the house to preserve the one-shot win for Dubinsky.
“Obviously it’s amazing that we’re 5-0. This game was definitely a little rougher for our team, but I think even though there were a lot of rocks in play and it was a closer game than we would have liked, I think we did a good job of still putting as much effort into the game and not giving up on ourselves,” Ariganello said.
“That’s something that’s really important, taking it one shot at a time and not thinking of the end goal.”
Dubinsky will take on Team Stoddart in the semifinal, a team she edged 4-3 in the round robin.
In the boys’ competition, Thunder Bay’s Josh Hari battled back from a 5-2 deficit, but couldn’t hang on, giving up three in the eighth to fall 9-6 to Evan MacDougall (4-1). Hari finished the competition at 0-5.
The semifinal round begins at 8 a.m. Monday, with the gold- and bronze-medal matches slated for 1 p.m.
