A four-ender in the fifth put Mike Assad in the driver’s seat.
A steal in the ninth ended it, giving the Thunder Bay skip an 8-4 win over Mike Pozihun’s Port Arthur Curling Club and a rematch with Mike Jakubo in the 3-4 Page Playoff on Saturday night.
Pozihun, who started with the hammer, found himself down 2-0 after the second end, but battled back to score one in the third and steal another in the fourth.
Then disaster struck in the fifth.
He closed the gap to two with a pair in the seventh, but stalled and was eliminated.
Thunder Bay’s Joe Scharf will take on reigning champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday afternoon at Fort William Curling Club.