In the hunt

Northern Ontario skip Marion Clark and her team are on a roll.

Playing on home ice at the Port Arthur Curling Club, the Thunder Bay squad on Wednesday morning made easy work of Mary Byrne’s team representing Newfoundland and Labardor, scoring a 10-1 win to remain in the thick of the playoff hunt at the Canadian Masters Women’s Curling Championship.

They cemented their contention in the afternoon draw, slamming Nova Scotia 11-2 to improve to 4-1, good for a two-way tie for top spot in the Pool B standings with Ontario. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals at the completion of round-robin play. 

In her opener on Wednesday, Clark stole two in the second end and never looked back, sealing the team’s win with a four-ender in the sixth and a steal of three more in the seventh to put the game away.

“It’s nice to get a game like this and get your draw weight because the ice is really, really keen and we have a long way to go. But it is a confidence builder,” Clark said.

It’s a lot better than sitting at 1-4, said Clark, the bronze medalist from last year’s Canadian Masters, in her third straight year representing Northern Ontario at the 12-team event.

“Absolutely, you’re not going to get an argument from me there,” she said. “We’re pretty happy. The team is curling well.”

Up 2-0 in the second, Clark and teammates Bev Junnila, Tannis Ferguson and Barbara Ward left Newfoundland no choice but to surrender a steal of one, forcing Byrne to settle for clearing a second Northern Ontario stone from the house, unable to get at shot rock.

Byrne got one back in the fifth, but with the hammer Clark was left with a hit for four in the sixth, a tough shot, but one she made to go up 7-1.

It was academic from there.

Byrne’s last hope in the seventh rested on a raise of a Newfoundland guard, which missed, handing Clark’s squad the steal of three.
The two sides shook hands at that point.

“I think we got our draw weight and we were communicating really well,” Clark said. “The front end is just incredible with judging the weight, so it makes my job easy.”

In other Draw 7 play Nova Scotia beat Yukon 8-2, Northern Ontario Host, a team from Sudbury, whipped New Brunswick 11-1, Manitoba downed Alberta 7-4 and Saskatchewan thumped British Columbia 10-2.

Northern Ontario takes on Manitoba (3-2) at noon on Thursday.

In men’s action, Paul Carr’s Northern Ontario foursome is earned its first win of the week, edging Quebec (2-2) 7-6 in an extra end. They imporoved to 1-3.