LITTLE CURRENT, Ont. – There’s guaranteed to be a Thunder Bay finalist in the men’s competition at the Northern Ontario Curling Championships.
Trevor Bonot secured his spot in Sunday morning’ semifinal, edging fellow Thunder Bay skip Brian Adams Jr. 8-5 on Saturday afternoon in Little Current, Ont.
Adams Jr. will play Thunder Bay’s Zach Warkentin on Saturday night in the C-side finale for the other semifinal berth.
Warkentin, who lost two of his first three games to fall into the C-side bracket, has won five straight, including a pair on Saturday.
His team, which includes lea Jamie Childs, second Travis Potter and third Tyler Stewart, beat Mike Assad 8-3 in the morning draw and ousted hometown favourite Jordan Chandler 10-7 in an afternoon contest to move within a win of the playoffs.
The winner of the semifinal will take on defending champion Tanner Horgan in Sunday afternoon’s gold-medal game for a spot in the Montana’s Brier.
In women’s action, Thunder Bay’s Robyn Despins kept her playoff hopes alive, downing North Bay’s Laura Johnston 9-3. Both teams are 2-2 heading into Saturday night’s final draw.
Despins plays Lauren Mann (1-3) and Johnston gets Burns (3-1).
Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville, who wraps up against Sudbury’s Jackie McCormick (0-4), bested Mann 9-2 in Saturday’s afternoon draw and remains the only undefeated team in the six-team event.
Barring a tiebreaker, the women’s final is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sunday. The men’s championship is at 1:30 p.m.
