LITTLE CURRENT, Ont. -- Thunder Bay rinks skipped by Dylan Johnston and Colin Koivula open play at the Travelers Northern Ontario Men's Curling Championships in Little Current on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
The winner of the eight-rink round robin and playoffs will advance to the Tim Horton's Brier in Regina March 3 to March 11.
The question is will this be the year that someone dethrones Brad Jacobs as the provincial champions? Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie rink have had a stranglehold on the provincial men's title for eight years.
Johnston and his Fort William Curling Club team of Mike Badiuk (Sioux Lookout), Cody Johnston (Vancouver) and Travis Showalter lost the final to Jacobs last year here in Thunder Bay and are hoping to get another shot at the talented Sault Ste. Marie squad come Sunday.
Johnston faces Charlie Robert from Sault Ste. Marie in their opener. Robert represented Northern Ontario at the Canadian Mixed back in November.
Meanwhile Koivula and his rink of Brennan Wark, Jordan Potts and Mark Adams, also from the Fort William Curling Club will be hoping to find their game in Little Current.
Koivula faces a tough task in their opener as they draw Jacobs. Johnston and Koivula face each other in the evening draw Wednesday. Johnston will take on Jacobs Friday evening at 7:30 pm.
Other teams to watch include the young Tanner Horgan rink from Sudbury playing in their third men’s provincial as juniors and the Jordan Chandler rink from the host Little Current Curling Club looking to make the most of hometown support. The full draw and list of teams is posted on the NOCA website at www.curlnoca.ca.
Local icemaker, Brent Adamson is also in Little Current part of the team in charge of putting the curling ice in the local arena. Adamson will be involved in the maintenance and preparation of ice throughout the week long event. -- By John Cameron
