The Tanner Horgan rink has moved on to the "championship pool" of the 2015 M & M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships - just barely.
Locked in a three-way tie at 2-4 with both Prince Edward Island (Tyler Smith) and Yukon (Joe Wallingham), Team Horgan (Tanner Horgan, Jacob Horgan, Connor Lawes, Maxime Blais) waited on the sidelines Tuesday evening as the other two went toe to toe.
Smith stayed alive with a 6-5 win over Wallingham, scoring once in the 10th end for the win, but could not duplicate that performance this morning against the Northern Ontario lads represented by the Idylwylde Golf & Country Club rink.
Smith and Horgan would head to extra ends, with the local skip holding last rock advantage. That proved crucial, as Northern Ontario counted four, sliding in as the seventh seed in the eight-team championship pool that continues today.
After tough losses to both Saskatchewan and Alberta earlier this week, sandwiched around a comfortable win over Nunavut, the Horgan quartet were dealt a serious setback, falling 6-5 to the Yukon when the final rock thrown by Horgan in the 10th end caught some debris, allowing Wallingham to escape with a 6-5 win.
With their record at 1-3, the Horgan foursome split their final two pool games, falling 7-6 to the New Brunswick skip (René Comeau) who reached the finals in 2014, and blasting PEI 7-0.
A 2-4 record might seem a tad disappointing, but not so, according to the man at the helm of the Northern Ontario teens.
"I thought that we've been playing really well," said skip Tanner Horgan just after his tie-breaking win.
"We honestly could have won any one of our games. The interesting thing about this tournament is that you have stronger teams from some provinces that are not normally powerhouses. It's added far more depth to the field," Horgan continued.
As for the close win Wednesday morning against the Maritime crew, Horgan was more than comfortable with the game his team played.
"We had a lot of ends where we left them tough," he noted. "We left them with a tough draw against five, which he made.
"Their skip played well."
Tied at 5-5 heading to an extra end, Horgan contends nerves were not a major factor.
"We've had a really good record in close games this year, on the junior circuit and in bonspiels."
While a spot in the championship tie-breaker is not impossible, it's likely not realistic.
"We would have to go undefeated (4-0), and we would need some help."
As it stands right now, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Quebec are all at 6-1, with Alberta at 5-1 and Saskatchewan at 5-2.
Northern Ontario will now face Ontario (Wednesday night), British Columbia (Thursday afternoon), Manitoba (Thursday evening) and Quebec (Friday morning).
On the ladies side of the draw, the Krysta Burns rink will look back on a first-draw loss to Manitoba (8-7) as the "one that slipped away," with the Burns rink (Leah Hodgson, Sara Guy, Laura Masters) finishing pool play at 2-4, one game back of Manitoba at 3-3.
Burns held a 6-5 lead heading into the ninth end when Beth Peterson counted three, and Northern Ontario unable to score two in the 10th to force an extra end.
Following their 1-2 start, the Idylwylde girls lost 7-3 to Quebec, blasted Nunavut 12-3 and dropped a 9-6 decision to Alberta, leaving them one game out of the championship pool.
Burns and company close out their 2015 experience with games against Newfoundland (Wednesday afternoon), Prince Edward Island (Wednesday night) and the Northwest Territories on Friday afternoon.
The 2015 Junior nationals are being hosted in Corner Brook (Newfoundland), with both Burns and Horgan making their second consecutive trek to the Canadian playdowns, with both teams still having junior eligibility heading into 2015-2016.
