NIPIGON – Krista McCarville and Brad Jacobs were heavy favourites coming into the Northern Ontario curling championships.
Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, had won four straight and eight of nine provincial titles, while McCarville is a six-time provincial champion, with six Ontario and two Northern Ontario titles under her belt.
Both have rolled through the competition through two days at the combined Northern Ontario men’s curling championship and the Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, being played this week at the Nipigon Arena.
Jacobs scored a pair of wins on Thursday, downing Sudbury’s Dustin Montpellier 9-3 in the afternoon draw and followed that with a 7-1 win over Sudbury’s Jordan Chandler in the evening draw, a match that concluded after five ends.
McCarville also won twice on the day.
She beat Sudbury’s Kira Brunton 7-3 in the morning, and held on to edge fellow Thunder Bay skip Jenna Enge 3-1, scoring singles in the fifth, seventh and ninth end.
Jacobs improved to 4-0, while McCarville sits at 3-0, the lone unbeaten team in the four-team women’s side.
Jacobs, on the other hand, has company at the top.
Sudbury’s Tanner Horgan needed an extra end to knock off Thunder Bay’s Mike McCarville rink 9-7 and jumped to 4-0 as well.
Thunder Bay’s Trevor Bonot won his second of the day in the afternoon set, downing winless Chandler (0-4) by an 11-7 count and is now 2-1, tied for third with Dylan Johnston, who opened Wednesday with a win over Montpellier, but fell 7-4 to McCarville, who is in the hunt in fifth at 2-2. Montpellier, Robbie Gordon and Chandler have yet to post a win.
Brunton, shaking off her earlier loss, got back in the win column in the evening draw, scoring three in the 10th to shake off Hailey Beaudry 9-6. Beaudry, whose first match of the day was postponed because of ice conditions, dropped to 0-2. Brunton is now 2-1, alone in second.
Curling resumes on Friday morning, with all eight men’s team taking the ice.
