Joe Scharf has something to prove.
A semifinalist in last year’s Northern Ontario provincial men’s curling play-downs, the Thunder Bay skip desperately wants a shot at the Brier, something no curler in the city has done in eight years.
He’s off to a good start and continued his winning ways on Monday afternoon.
After an easy 8-1 win over Geraldton’s John Salo in the morning draw, the Scharf rink was in tough against former two-time Northern Ontario champion Mike Jakubo of Copper Cliff, Ont., but used a pair of three-enders late in the contest to pull out a 7-4 win.
It leaves him undefeated at 3-0 after Draw 5, tied for top spot at the event, being staged this week at Fort William Curling Club.
“We’re feeling pretty good. We came out here and we’ve played a couple of solid games. We’ve really hung in. We got down a couple of points in our first game and our third game and just managed to hang in there and hang in there and crack a couple of ends to get back into the game,” Scharf said.
The two sides slow-played each other in the early going, blanking the first three ends.
Jakubo struck first when Scharf’s final stone crashed off a guard in front of the house, giving Jakubo a steal of two in the fourth.
The teams traded points in the fifth and sixth and Scharf made the hammer count in the seventh, with a little help and a couple of missed shots from his opponent.
Jakubo, up 3-1, took an aggressive tack in the seventh, ordering lead Lee Toner to land his first stone in the rings.
It led to a crowded house by the time as the end wore on.
Matt Seabrook, throwing skip stones for the Jakubo rink, with Scharf lying two, came up short on his final shot, leaving the Thunder Bay rink with an opportunity to score four.
However Scharf’s final shot came up short, giving the hometown favourite a 4-3 lead.
Jakubo responded with a single in the eighth, but was outdueled in the ninth. Scharf filled the house with yellow stones.
Seabrook had a chance to limit the damage, but crashed on a mess of guards in front of the house, leaving Scharf an easy draw to the four-foot for three points, all but sealing the win.
“It’s always nice to come home with three points. We made a couple of big shots and we got a pretty key miss from Jakubo’s skip there and that opened the door for us,” Scharf said.
“It’s always a bonus to get a three-ender. Every end when you have the hammer you’re always looking for a two, so anytime you can get a three ender, it’s a bonus,” he said.
It was a clean sweep for the three Thunder Bay rinks in action on Monday afternoon.
Mike Assad, who went to the Brier as a member of Al Hackner’s 2001 Northern Ontario champions, made easy work of Englehart’s Dave MacInnes, improving to 2-0 with a 9-3 win that ended after Assad scored four in the seventh.
Assad, who will take on Jakubo (1-1) in Draw 5 on Monday night, said it was a close game, despite the lopsided score.
“We got a couple of breaks along the way. It definitely wasn’t easy, but we were able to put some pressure on them and make them throw a draw, where if you didn’t make it you could crack a big end,” he said.
For Bryan Burgess (1-1) it was a matter of getting his week going. Burgess lost his opener on Sunday to Salo, but rebounded against Stratton’s Tim Nordin (0-3), mirroring Scharf’s triumph with a 7-4 victory.
Burgess, who saw a 4-2 lead disappear in the eighth, scored three in the ninth to all but end it.
The win felt good, said Burgess, whose team includes lead Pat Berezowski, second Dale Wiersema and third Gary Weiss.
“It was a little struggle. We struggled a little bit last night and we came out today and struggled a little bit at the beginning, but it was nice to get the win.”
Burgess takes on Sudbury’s Robbie Gordon (1-1) on Monday night.
