THUNDER BAY — Robyn Despins was in a much better mood following her second game at the Northern Ontario women’s curling provincial championship.
After dropping a 10-3 decision to Emma Artichuk’s Sudbury rink on Wednesday afternoon, Despins led her Fort William Curling Club rink (1-1) to an 8-3 win over North Bay’s Laura Johnston (0-2) in eight ends at the Port Arthur Curling Centre on Thursday morning.
“You shake off the nerves from the first game and you get that out of the way,” Despins said.
“This game we were definitely more comfortable, in our zone and playing like we can.”
Despins, who is joined on her team by third Nicole Westlund Stewart, second Samantha Morris and lead Rebecca Carr, put the game out of reach by scoring three points in the eighth end.
“I think our team is just going to continue to go up and up,” Despins said.
“That’s what we usually do. We start to warm up and I think we’re going to see that fire from our whole team as the week goes along. I’m really excited for our next couple of games.”
Defending provincial champion Krista McCarville and her Fort William squad improved to 2-0 on Thursday morning with an 8-3 win over clubmate Ashley Palmer (0-1), who had Oye-Sem Won throwing fourth stones.
McCarville jumped out to a 5-0 lead after five ends but only held a two-point advantage going into the ninth.
She scored three points in that frame to end the contest.
“We had a couple of ends late that we took some time on and that were a little bit trickier, but overall, I think we’re playing well,” third Andrea Kelly said.
Artichuk (2-0) kept pace with McCarville by winning a wild 7-6 contest over Lauren Mann of Timmins (1-1).
After giving up a steal of two to fall behind 6-4 after eight ends, Artichuk got a single point in the ninth and stole a pair in the 10th when Mann’s final draw attempt was heavy.
“That game was all over the place,” Artichuk said.
“We started off really strong … but then I had a few tricky last shots and some less tricky shots that I was just kind of missing the wrong way.
“We dug through it though and were really resilient in the last couple of ends.”
Claire Dubinsky’s Kakabeka Falls squad (0-1) had the bye in the morning draw.
Meanwhile, Fort William’s Frank Morissette eliminated Sault Ste. Marie’s Matthew Hunt from the men’s provincial playdowns with a 7-6 triumph in the first ‘C’ event elimination game.
Morissette trailed 6-3 after seven ends and only mustered a single point with the hammer in the eighth, but was able to steal three points in the ninth after a botched takeout attempt by Hunt.
Hunt’s final shot without hammer sailed through an empty house in the 10th end and Morissette didn’t have to throw his last.
The men’s competition resumes at 2:30 p.m. and will feature the ‘A’ event semifinals.
John Epping’s Sudbury rink goes up against the Fort Wiliam’s Dylan Johnston, while defending provincial champion Trevor Bonot and his Fort William quartet take on Sudbury’s Sandy MacEwan.
The women’s event gets back underway at 7:30 p.m. and will see Palmer play Despins, Dubinsky face Mann and McCarville take on Artichuk.
