THUNDER BAY – There are now just two playoff spots up for grabs as the Tbaytel Major League of Curling heads into its final week of regular season play.
Ron Rosengren, fresh off a trip to senior nationals, on Wednesday night locked up the sixth of eight playoff berths, stealing a pair in the eighth end to finish off Bryan Burgess 6-3.
The triumph, the team’s ninth in 14 outings, gives the Rosengren foursome 27 points, tied with Burgess for fifth place in the 16-team circuit, and makes next week’s season-finale against Trevor Bonot a little less nerve-wracking.
“It takes a little bit of the pressure off. We’ve been kind of flat the last few weeks, so this felt good to get it out of the way.”
Rosengren jumped in front with a single in the second, and took a 3-1 lead in the fourth, scoring a pair, but Burgess battled back with one in the fifth and stole another one in the sixth to even the match. Rosengren was held to one in the seventh to grab a 4-3 lead, but gave Burgess back the hammer for the eighth.
Facing two Rosengren rocks biting the button and four-foot, Burgess had a chance to remove both stones with a perfect hit-and-stick that would have sent the match to an extra end – a shot to the button competition under Major League of Curling rules – but couldn’t navigate the guards at the top of the rings smoothly enough and gave up two to end the match.
“We just got the breaks. We made some really good ones, but we also missed some too,” Rosengren said.
“It was good to make the right ones in that end. We made three good ones right at the end.”
Three teams remain in the hunt for the final two playoff spots.
Chris Silver could have wrapped up one of them, but couldn’t hold off two-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts runner-up Krista McCarville, who battled back from a 4-2 deficit after three ends to double up her opponent 8-4, stealing singles in the fifth and sixth and a deuce in the seventh, ultimately running Silver out of rocks in the eighth to claim a share of second with Brian Adams Jr.
Silver still controls his playoff destiny, needing just a single point in Week 15 to earn a spot in the championship round.
Dylan Johnston slipped past Gary Weiss into eighth place with a 5-2 win over Jodi Judd, and can also claim a playoff berth with a win next week over Denis Malette. Weiss dropped a 9-7 decision to Ben Mikkelsen, and sits at 22 points, one point behind Johnston and two back of Silver.
Robyn Despins, who could have stayed alive in the playoff hunt with a win, instead surrendered a steal of two to Malette in the eighth and fell 6-4, her team eliminated from the postseason.
Meanwhile Andrew Sinclair, whose team has struggled for most of the season, picked up his first regulation win of the season, doubling up Jackson Dubinsky in a match that Sinclair said was a lot tighter than the final score might indicate.
“It feels awesome to put that up,” Sinclair said. “That’s a good team we played. Jackson made some really good shots. We had him dead to rights in the first end and they ended up stealing one from us. He made a couple of beauties. But it does feel awesome to get the second win.”
In other action, Adams Jr. downed Al Hackner 7-2 and Trevor Bonot eked out a 6-5 win over Zach Warkentin to maintain a one-point lead in the top spot. He can wrap up the No. 1 seed next week with a win over Rosengren.
