After a grueling week of games, Sault Ste. Marie's Al Harnden and Al Belec saw their hopes of a Northern Ontario Men's Curling Championship fall in the playoff round.
At the KIA Cup in Nipigon, Harnden eliminated Belec in the second page playoff game 9-1 before falling to Rob Gordon 6-4 in the semi-final.
Gordon, with Dave MacInnes, Steve Burnett and Jeremy Landry, went on to defeat Joe Scharf 7-6 in the final on Sunday to claim the provincial crown and advance to the Tim Horton's Brier 11-18 in Regina.
Harnden's team included Brad Jacobs, Dusty Jakomait and Rob Thomas while Belec's entry included Jamie Broad, Tom Harris and Mike Wilcox.
Dan Lemieux, another Sault entry, finished in seventh place at 4-4. Lemieux is joined by Garry Graham, Sam Cormier and Ken Graham.
After Harnden and Belec finished in a five-way tie for second place at 5-3 after the round robin, Harnden was forced to play three tiebreakers and Belec two in order to advance to the page playoff round.
Harnden opened with an 8-6 win over John Salo while Belec scored an 8-6 decision over Byran Burgess. In the second tiebreaker, Harnden fell to Scharf 9-6 before both local entries were forced into a third tiebreaker. Harnden beat Burgess 8-2 for the fourth seed while Belec fell to Scharf 4-3 for the second seed.
In the other page playoff game, Scharf beat Gordon for a bye into the final.
*** GAME SUMMARIES:
HARNDEN vs. BELEC Page Playoff #2
End 2: Harnden sets up center guard and starts up play behind it. Harnden controls the 4 foot until Belec freezes on the Harnden counter in the back 4. That rock is untouchable until Shooter Jacobs make a made for TV hit and roll freeze on the button. Broad can not touch it. Harnden steals 1. This kid is fearless...
End 3: Lots of rocks in play. 5 rocks in the 4 foot when skips start. Belec is sitting 2 red on the button when Jacobs attempts his final shot. Shooter makes an angle raise on his own rock to double off the 2 Belec counters. Harnden sitting 4 and Broad cut him down to 3 on his last. This kid is incredible does he ever miss!!!!
End 4: Harnden controls lone center guard and 2 in back 12. Belec draws up to the 2 in the back 12. Jacob wrecks on his first. (he is human) Broad comes up short on his first and is forced to draw for 1 on his last.
End 5: Couple of guards in play. Harnden controls the house. Harnden makes nice come around to sit 3. Broads first draw is short and his second sails through the house. Shooter has free draw for 4 and puts it on the pin.
End 6: Harnden in control of the end. Belec is have trouble getting the end going. Harnden steals another. Hand shakes.
HARNDEN vs. GORDON Semi-finals
End 1: Fairly open end. Couple of rocks in play. Gordon gets free draw for two.
End 2: Thomas sets up corner guards for the Harnden squad. Neither team can get behind the guards and play is left in the open centre path. Due to a Gordon nibbler Jacobs is force to hit and stick a rock in the open eight.
End 4: Harnden has two center guards to start end. The race to the button is on. Harnden with his first buries one biting the top of the button, beauty from the whillie vet. MacInnes taps the Harnden rock back but remains open. Now Harnden is set to force Gordon to one. After a couple of trades on the MacInnes rock, Jacobs almost buries but leaves a third showing. Gordon has draw to the eight against three on his final shot.
End 5: Landry and Burnett set up the front for Gordon. Neither team taking advatage of the set up. Harnden half buries his last rock to the four. MacInnes attempts to punch out the Harnden rock but is wide and chips the rock to the button buried. Gordon plays his final shot to take out the two outside Harnden rocks. By doing this he is conceding an open draw to the eight for two. Jacobs comes up light on the draw attempt. Missed opportunity, Harnden scores one. That could have been a big momentum changer. After forcing Gordon to one in the fourth, Harnden could have taken control of this match.
End 6: Lots of rocks in play . Harnden controlling end. Thirds exchange counters. Harnden sitting three on Gordon's last stone. Gordon Makes draw to four foot for one.
End 7: Couple of guards set. Gordon controls open house throughout end. Jacobs facing two in the eight foot on final shot. His draw is a bit heavy but just hangs on for the one.
End 8: Harnden sets center guards. Play to the four. Gordon has the counter on the eight. Harnden wrecks on come around attempt to give Gordon chance for his two. On his first shot Gordon draws to the opposite side but leaves it a little high for his liking. Jacobs sees the double set up and "Shooter" does not disappoint. Gordon forced to draw for one against two fully in the eight. His draw just hangs on in the back.
End 9: Fairly open. Few rocks in play in the house. Shots being traded. Nothing big happening. Jacobs attempts double for two but spills the shooter and takes one. One down without hammer.
End 10: Thomas sets up two center guards. Landry tries to split the high guard twice but removes it twice. Four rock rule in play means the guards go back. Jakomait puts one behind the guards half buried. MacInnes' peel is tight and raises the two guards and the counter spills to the wings. Rocks are traded and on Jacobs last shot he is debating on the draw or the nose hit, they choose the nose hit and he makes it. Gordon chooses to hit the outside rock as opposed to drawing the full eight, this choice will assure him the tie. He hits the nose with a nudge of a roll in and takes the point and the chance to play Scharf for the Brier birth.
GORDON vs. SCHARF Finals
End 9: Scharf keeping things clean. Scharf has 2 on the back 4 and MacInnes snuggles one in between the two yellows. Assad peels the red on the top four. MacInnes makes a beauty freeze in the pocket. Scharf throws a bullet to try and spill everything but the 2 reds hang around. Gordon throws a guard. Scharf tries to corner freeze on red button rock but bounces off a couple of inches. Gordon has a soft tap back for 3 but is a little wide and jams on the back rock. Gordon takes 2. All tied up coming home.
End 10: Shooter of the game Mike McCarville starts the tenth with two beautiful come arounds the center guard to the top eight. Teams now playing the guard & peel game for awhile. MacInnes taps the 2 yellows around to set them better for later. Gordon tries to come around to freeze to the yellow counter on the four but wrecks. Scharf attempts to double the front reds and only getes rid of one. Now with his last shot of the week Robbie Gordon needs his biggest shot of the week. He has been struggling all game and needs to corner freeze on the yellow counter on the four just behind the tee line and he nails it perfectly. Scharf needs to either draw up to the corner of that rock with no room for error or a hard double raise to spill the two reds in the house. He chooses the raise and seems to be on line and when the dust settles there is two rocks biting the button but it is difficult to tell who is shot. Both thirds race over to look and Dave MacInnes raises his arms in triumph to show that Team Gordon is off to the Brier.
***
(Game summaries courtesy of www.curlnont.ca)
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