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Gordon rink working through up and down week

More than competitive through their first six games, the Rob Gordon rink, representing northern Ontario at the 2012 Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Abbotsford, B.C., will need some kind of a run to guarantee themselves a playoff berth.
Gordon-curling
Sudbury Curling Club skip Rob Gordon at the 2012 Canadian Senior Curling Championships. Photo courtesy of Davina, Canadian Curling Association.

More than competitive through their first six games, the Rob Gordon rink, representing northern Ontario at the 2012 Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Abbotsford, B.C., will need some kind of a run to guarantee themselves a playoff berth.

With 13 draws in the book, Gordon, along with Ron Henderson, Dion Dumontelle and Doug Hong, are sporting a record of 5-3, preparing to face New Brunswick (3-5) Thursday afternoon.

The Sudbury Curling Club foursome started round robin play nicely, edging Nova Scotia (Dave McCusker) 7-6 as Gordon scored two with the hammer in the 10th end to pick up his first win.

Facing Brian Lewis of Ontario in the Sunday afternoon draw, Gordon and company built up a 4-1 lead after five ends, with things looking good. Then Lewis scored one in the sixth, and stole two in the seventh and one in the eighth, surging to a 5-4 lead.

Gordon was able to send the game to extra ends, taking advantage of last rock in the 10th, but Lewis returned the favour in the 11th, walking off with a 6-5 triumph.

The decades of experience that the Sudbury foursome have garnered came in particularly handy mere hours later, with Northern Ontario needing to put a tough loss behind them, as the defending champs from Manitoba were up next.

To their credit, the Gordon rink traded shots with Kelly Robertson on a fairly even basis, scoring twice in the 10th end to chalk up a 6-5 win of their own.

Unfortunately, the momentum from that huge victory did not carry over to Monday morning as the northern men quickly fell behind Quebec (Pierre Charette) 4-0, eventually dropping a 7-2 decision to even their record at 2-2.

The good news for the locals was that the back and forth pattern continued. Northern Ontario earned a split Monday evening, besting Charlie Wilkinson of Prince Edward Island 6-2.

A tough schedule was ahead on Tuesday, with British Columbia and Saskatchewan, a pair of traditionally strong teams, sitting in the wait. The first incredibly tight defensive battle that Gordon had played found the Nickel City quartet ahead 2-0 after six ends.

But B.C. bounced back, scoring a point in three consecutive ends and forcing Northern Ontario to take one in the 10th, sending the game to an extra end tied at 3-3. Again, last shot advantage would make the difference as skip Dennis Graber secured a 5-3 win for British Columbia, improving to 5-1 in the process.

There was just one game on Tuesday and Gordon and company made the most of it, storming back from a 4-2 deficit at the fifth end break and upending Eugene Hritzuk of Saskatchewan 7-5. A score of three in the sixth end keyed the Northern Ontario comeback, as Gordon added a steal of one in the ninth to provide a little breathing room coming home.

Posted by Laurel Myers
 


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