Harnden splits on opening day

Al Harnden and company are off to a solid start at the 2004 Northern Ontario Men's Curling Championships.

Harnden, along with brother Eric Harnden, nephew E.J. Harnden and Rob Thomas, opened the championship on Tuesday in front of the home fans at the Soo Curlers Association with a convincing 11-4 win over Dave MacInnes before dropping a tough 7-6 decision to Chris Johnson.

The winner of the event will represent Northern Ontario at the Nokia Brier in Saskatoon March 6-14.

In the opening draw on Tuesday afternoon, Team Harnden took control after Timmins' MacInnes took two points in the first end.

Harnden took advantage of a missed double takeout on MacInnes' first rock in the second end allowing Eric Harden, who throws skip stones, to draw behind a guard a sit two. After MacInnes couldn't come up with a tight freeze with his last rock, Harden played a hit and stick for three points.

Harnden later took a pair in the fourth end, stole two more in the fifth before sealing the win with four-point seventh end to force MacInnes to concede the victory.

In Tuesday's evening draw, Harnden and Johnson traded the lead eight times as the contest was not decided until the game's final stone.

After Harnden took a 1-0 advantage in the second end, Johnson made a hit and stick for two points in the third end to take the lead. Team Harnden then rebounded the next end as Eric Harnden made a draw for a deuce.

Johnson took a pair in the fifth end and Harnden two in the sixth before Johnson tied the score with a single point in the seventh end and stole another in the eighth to take the lead. In the ninth, Eric Harnden played a hit and stick to force the game into the 10th end tied at 6-6.

In the 10th end, not only did Harnden face the task of trying to steal for the win but the clock became a situation with time quickly winding down. After Eric Harnden drew to the edge of the four foot with his final stone, Johnson needed half of the four foot on a draw with the final stone. The Sudbury native made no mistake on his attempt to claim the 7-6 victory.

Now at 1-1, Harnden will play twice again on Wednesday. Harnden battles Thunder Bay's Denis Malette at 9 a.m. before meeting Sudbury's Tim Phillips at 2 p.m. The team will receive a bye in Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. draw.

In other action in the opening draw, Thunder Bay's Jeff Currie setup a 10th end victory with a triple takeout in the ninth end to defeat Kirkland Lake's Rob McKelvey 6-5, Haileybury's Rob Gordon replied Phillips' four-point eighth end with three in the ninth and a steal of one in the 10th to claim a 9-7 win while Malette broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth end with three points to take a 6-3 decision over Atikokan's Bruce Melville.

In other draw two action, Currie used a five-pint fourth end to take a 7-2 win over Melville, McKelvey scored four of the game's final five points to defeat Gordon 9-6 and MacInnes beat Phillips 9-4 in eight ends.

In other round robin games scheduled for Wednesday, MacInnes meets Gordon, Phillips battles Melville and Currie faces Johnson at 9 a.m. while Gordon duels Malette, McKelvey faces Johnson and Melville meets MacInnes at 2 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., Johnson battles Phillips, Melville meets Gordon, Malette faces Currie and MacInnes goes against McKelvey.

*** STANDINGS:

Currie 2-0 Johnson 1-0 Malette 1-0 Harnden 1-1 McKelvey 1-1 MacInnes 1-1 Gordon 1-1 Phillips 0-2 Melville 0-2