THUNDER BAY – Chris Silver says a slow start derailed their Tbaytel Major League of Curling season.
That’s in the past.
Silver and his team have picked things up the past few weeks, and though they’re too far back to make the championship round, they’ve got bigger goals in mind, with the Northern Ontario playdowns topping their upcoming schedule, starting Jan. 21 at Port Arthur Curling Centre.
On Wednesday they collected their fourth win of the Major League season, scoring four in the opening end and went on to down Rob Skinner 7-2, stealing singles in the second, third and fourth ends.
The two teams shook hands after six.
Silver, third Owen Riches, second Brayden Sinclair and lead Travis Showalter, like the way things are starting to shape up, with just three draws left in Major League play.
Jumping out in front like they did against Sinclair is part of the plan.
“We definitely wanted to focus this year more on our starts. We noticed last year we had a really good game, except for those first few ends,” Silver said.
“This year we had a big focus on coming out prepared and I think that showed today. We were just getting rocks in the control zone, making them make tough shots, rather than keeping it open and letting everyone get comfortable.”
It’s a lot easier to play with a big lead, he added, especially as the game wears on.
“If they’re trying to get two, they’re going to want to throw up corner guards, so we’ll have at least two rocks up before they have a chance to go in the middle,” Silver said.
“So, if we can go top four and a guard, it’s really hard for them to take control of that centre back.”
Being in top form come Jan. 21 is the goal moving forward, he said.
Last year the foursome dropped all three games in the triple knockout format, and said they learned they have to adapt to the ice conditions to succeed, something they were slow to pick up on this past January in Little Current.
“You have to shoot it a different way, compared to here, and we went into provincials last year with the same kind of releases and it kind of ate us alive at the beginning. We figured it out at the end, but we want to come out and do that from the beginning so we have our best chance of winning,” Silver said.
Luckily, they’ll have a bit of a home-ice advantage this time around.
Ben Mikkelsen won’t be at provincials, and like Silver, started a little too slowly to make the championship round. With 16 points, his team is nine points back of eighth-place Krista McCarville, with just two games and six points up for grabs.
Finishing strong is the goal – not to mention making sure they finish in the ninth to 16th spot to earn a berth in the consolation round. The bottom two teams will miss the playoffs altogether.
After spotting Andrew Sinclair a 3-0 lead through two ends on Wednesday, Mikkelsen, third Greg Doran, second Mark Blanchard and lead Devin Doran battled back, coring three in the third to even the match and stealing three in the seventh to put the game out of reach, claiming a 9-4 triumph.
It was just the fifth win in 15 games for the Mikkelsen rink, but it still feels good putting wins on the board.
“We’ve had a slower year this year, but the last couple of games we’ve played a little bit better. The ice has been moving a little bit more, so the game suits our game. We tend to struggle when the ice is a little bit straighter,” Mikkelsen said.
It helped that they put up crooked numbers on a couple of occasions.
“When you can crack a three a couple of times in a game, you know you’re likely going to be on top. More importantly, we were able to force them to their singles when we needed to. We started slow again, but this game can be funny like that, where you feel like you’re spinning your wheels at the beginning of the game, but when you crack a three to tie it up, all of a sudden you feel strong again,” he said.
In other action, Ron Rosengren downed Gary Weiss 5-3, Brian Adams Jr. knocked off Robyn Despins 7-2, McCarville beat Claire Dubinsky and daughter Bella McCarville 11-4, Denis Malette edged Ashley Palmer 6-5, Dylan Johnston waylaid Al Hackner 8-2 and Brian Burgess scored one in the eighth to edge Trevor Bonot 6-5.
