Pozihun pumped

They don’t come any easier than this.

Mike Pozihun used a four-ender in the third to vault himself past Englehart’s Dave MacInnes 7-1 on Thursday night. It was the Thunder Bay skip’s fourth straight win, upped his record to 6-3 and put himself in complete control of his playoff destiny at the Northern Ontario men’s provincial curling championship being staged this week at Fort William Curling Club.

“We got a few breaks,” Pozihun said, less than 80 minutes after the match began. “We got the big four in three, and then they were scrambling. It’s always nice when you can get a comfortable lead like that.”

The victory has boosted the confidence of the squad, that also includes lead Aaron Rogalski, second B.J. Skinner and third Deron Surkan.

The Pozihun rink started slowly this week, alternating wins and losses in their first four matches. But they haven’t lost since dropping a 7-5 decision to Thunder Bay’s Joe Scharf in Draw 7, pulling out wins over Geraldton’s John Salo, Sudbury’s Robbie Gordon and an 8-7 squeaker with a steal in 10 over Thunder Bay’s Bryan Burgess earlier Thursday.

“The first couple of games we were having a little trouble with rock position. We also played very good teams and we really weren’t playing that bad if we stuck to it. We knew we could come back and put a few together. We were fortunate today, won a couple of big ones,” Pozihun said.

The hot streak has the Port Arthur Curling Club team in good stead, tied for third place with fellow Lakehead curler Mike Assad’s squad, heading into Friday’s final day of round-robin play.

“If we win both we’re in really good shape. If we split, we might have tiebreakers, but we did exactly what we needed to do today,” said Pozihun, making his third appearance at the Northerns.

After spotting the MacInnes foursome a single in the second end, things just fell into placed in the third.

MacInnes nestled his final stone in the four-foot, but left an open hit that looked like a sure double, maybe more.

“We finally got rocks in good places. I had a little delicate shot on my last one, the guys swept it perfectly and we made it for four,” Pozihun said. “In the next end we scored two. He just had a free draw and I guess it smudged up on him. It was just fortunate. They’re a real good team.”

A steal in six led to handshakes.

As good as things went for Pozihun on Thursday, they went horribly wrong for Joe Scharf, who entered the day with a 7-0 record and in the driver’s seat.

Two losses later, including a lopsided 9-3 defeat at the hands of former Canadian junior champion Jeff Currie (4-5) of Thunder Bay in the final draw of the day, and the team has some work cut out to remain in the top two positions and earn a spot in the coveted 1-2 Page Playoff.

“I think we got a big win last night against Brad Jacobs and we probably let off a little today in the early game. It came down to last rock and we missed it,” said Scharf’s third Mike McCarville.

“I don’t know if we were deflated tonight, but in the first two ends we had tons of rocks in play and the time was ticking down and we started feeling the pressure because it took us 20 minutes for the first two ends and we were only given 73 for 10 ends.”

Currie scored two in the first, just missing a third point on a measurement that went in Scharf’s favour. Facing a tough shot that led to another measurement, Scharf gave up a steal of one in the second, and trailed 3-0 early.

He got a pair back in the third, but gave one back in the fourth, and should have surrendered another but for Currie’s final stone coming up short.

The fifth-end proved disastrous for Scharf, seeking his first Brier appearance in a decade.

“We rushed a few shots and he made a big one for four and that was it,” McCarville said.

Still, the news wasn’t all bad for Team Scharf. They’ve clinched at least a tiebreaker berth, and need to win one of their final two matches on Friday to make the playoffs. A clean sweep would earn a spot in the 1-2 game.

Jacobs (8-1) won twice on Thursday, his second win, an 8-3 decision over Dustin Montpellier, assured him a spot in the playoffs.

Burgess, who fell 9-8 to McInnes and 8-7 to Pozihun on Thursday, is still in contention at 5-4, tied with Mike Jakubo in fifth place. Salo, who started the night 4-4, losses, fell 5-3 to Stratton’s Tim Nordin (3-6).