THUNDER BAY – When the skip goes down, the rest of the team has to pick up the pace.
That’s just what Oye Sem-Won, Corie Adamson and Jessica Langlais have done, doing their best to keep the team sharp, with skip Ashley Palmer nursing a foot injury and out of action for the past month or so, with just over a month to go before the Northern Ontario Playdowns.
Sem-Won, throwing skip stones in Palmer’s absence, came up strong in the final end of Sunday’s Tbaytel Major League of Curling match against Andrew Skinner’s foursome, she and her teammates scoring three with the hammer to pull out a 7-5 win.
It was the fourth win in 10 outings for Team Palmer, and certainly an exciting finish, Sem-Won said.
“It was a fun game. The ice was tricky. It started off fast and got really heavy at the end and picked up a lot of curl, so that made it trickier. But we had rocks in play and lots of taps and runs and stuff, so it was fun,” Sem-Won said.
Skinner took a 3-1 lead with a steal of two in the third, but Team Palmer matched them in the fifth, scoring two without hammer to jump in front 4-3. Skinner collected a deuce in the seventh, leaving Sem-Won and company in need of at least one to extend the match.
It’s been an adjustment, she said.
“Everyone is kind of out of their positions, but we’re willing to do what it takes to get the team to where we need to be. Every game is good practice and all of us are coming back from a bit of a hiatus, so it’s nice to be back and get all the rocks on the ice.”
Sem-Won said not letting early mistakes get them down was key to Sunday’s win.
“I think it was sticking to it, missing a few shots early and then just hanging in there and being patient, while waiting for that shot here and there and taking advantage of the misses out there,” she said.
Sem-Won wasn’t the only team needing a come-from behind win in the eighth.
Trevor Bonot, the defending Northern Ontario men’s champion skip, made a delicate hit for a pair in the final end to score a 7-6 win over Ben Mikkelsen, who took a 6-5 lead with a steal of one in the seventh, after putting up three in the sixth to tie the match 5-5.
“It’s good to have those games for us. We needed them. We haven’t been super sharp this season. So to have a game like that and to finish it off with a big shot, it feels good,” Bonot said.
“The mentality was focusing on making sure you make the shot for one, then if you can make it for two, that’s great.”
Bonot, lead Kurtis Byrn, second Jordan Potts and third Mike McCarville, with nine wins in 12 outings, are tied for second in the Major League standings with Zach Warkentin, who edged Brian Adams Jr. 5-4 with an extra-end shot to the button win.
In other action, Myles Stevens won for the second time this week, downing Denis Malette’s team 6-1, Dylan Johnston beat Ron Rosengren’s squad – skipped by Ben Grant with Rosengren in Moncton, N.B. for the Canadian seniors – 9-5, and Gary Weiss edged Chris Silver 7-6 in extra ends. Krista McCarville doubled up Robyn Despins 6-3 and Al Hackner’s team, skipped by Frank Morissette beat Andrew Sinclair 5-2.
Action continues on Sunday afternoon at Port Arthur Curling Club.
