A dramatic come from behind victory by Thunder Bay’s Team McCarville for an 8-6 victory over Sudbury’s Team Fleury highlighted the final day of the double round robin play at the Northern Scotties Tournament in Timmins.
The two teams will now face each other once again Sunday in the final draw of the 2016 Northern Scotties from the McIntyre Curling Club.
With Team Fleury leading 6-4 after eight ends, Skip Krista McCarville and her team Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala and Sarah Potts went to work and counted two points in the ninth to tie the score.
Team Fleury Skip Tracy Fleury and her team Jennifer Horgan, Jenna Walsh and Crystal Webster worked hard all match and all it boiled down to the last rock in the 10th end.
Thursday in a similar position against Team Payne, Fleury made a perfect shot to score two points for a 10-9 victory.
However, today Fleury’s shot was just too soft and didn’t have enough force to clear the house of McCarville’s rocks. Team McCarville counted stole two points and the match 8-6.
They took both games from Team Fleury, the defending Northern Ontario Scotties champions.
In the previous match between the two teams, Team McCarville beat Team Fleury 7-6.
“I don’t thing we were at our sharpest,” said Skip Krista McCarville, “But we hung in there and we battled back.”
Despite not being at their sharpest, Team McCarville came through when the game was on the line.
“When we needed our two - we got our two, and obviously we played for making our tougher shots in the last end and it worked out for us.
Team Fleury can take heart as the two games against Team McAllister were very close.
“We played really well today,” said Skip Tracy Fleury, “We controlled most of the game.”
Unfortunately for Team Fleury they couldn’t control the ninth and tenth ends and that was the difference between victory and defeat for the Sudbury team.
Heading into Sunday’s final the expectation is that another hard fought, close match will unfold.
“It’s going to be another tight battle,” predicted McCarville. “We both worked hard all year and so have they.”
Fleury also said her team is ready for the final.
“We are feeling confident heading into tomorrow,” Fleury said. “We are just going to come out and play the way we played today.”
The final game is set for 10 a.m. Sunday January 24.
The final standings had Team McCarville at 6-0, Team Fleury 4-2, Team Payne from North Bay at 2-4 and hometown Team Wiseman from Timmins 0-6.
The other match on Saturday saw Team Payne triumph over Team Wiseman 9-3.
Despite finishing winless in the tournament Team Wiseman gained valuable experience participating in the tournament.
“It’s been awesome,” said Skip Gail Wiseman, “We learned a lot and we will be able to take into our game for the future.”
“It was a great tournament we had so much fun,” said Vice Skip Marie-Eve Mongrain. “Our score was a different matter but we a lot of fun.”
“It was a great experience to play against teams at this level and we would have regretted it if we hadn’t participated,” she added.
Now that the Scotties tournament is over Wiseman and Mongrain will go back to playing for their club teams in the Wednesday night league at the McIntyre Curling Club.
They will prepare for a local tournament were they will get a chance to play against each other.