Thunder Bay rinks in contention at Northern play-downs

Thunder Bay’s chances are looking good at the Northern Ontario men’s curling championship.

Brian Adams Jr. clinched first place in the round robin on Friday, holding off fellow Thunder Bay skip Trevor Bonot 5-3 in the evening draw, keeping his record unblemished at 6-0.

Bonot, who fell to 1-5, lost for the second time on the day to fall out of contention.

Jeff Currie grabbed solo second, scoring a pair in the 11th end to escape with a 6-4 win over former champion Mike Jakubo, running his record to 4-2.

The fates of Bryan Burgess and Dylan Johnston will be decided in Saturday morning’s round-robin finale. Johsnton fell back to .500, losing 6-4 to Sault Ste. Marie’s Robbie Gordon, while Burgess lost his second match of the day, edged 5-3 by Dan Lemieux, who picked up his first win of the week.

Burgess and Johnston are mired in a four-way tie for third place.

The top three teams advance to the playoffs.

Burgess takes on Jakubo in Draw 7 while Johnston will square off against Johnston. Currie plays Lemieux and Bonot battles Gordon.