A pair of Sudbury curling skips returned to the roots of their respective teams last weekend as both Tracy Fleury and Tanner Horgan were in action at the Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker.
With all remaining members of both rinks hailing from Manitoba, it was only fitting that the talented local rock throwers were off to Morris, Man., site of one of a handful of late August bonspiels that open the 2019-2020 schedule.
And what a start to the season is was for the quartet of Fleury, Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish, as the second-year team peeled off four straight wins en route to claiming top spot at the event.
Team Fleury bested Miki Hayashi (Japan) 6-4, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit, and downed Laura Walker of Edmonton 5-4 in an extra end, earning a bye directly through to the semi-final.
The drama continued as Fleury and company scored twice in the eighth end with the hammer, edging Sayak Yoshimura of Japan 6-5, and displayed their ability to come from behind, once again, in the final.
Trailing Tori Koana (Japan) 3-2 after six ends, Fleury scored twice in the seventh to secure the lead and sealed the victory with a steal of one in the eighth end, garnering their first prize purse of the year.
As for Horgan, he and his new crew of Colton Lott, Kyle Doering and Tanner Lott also cruised through the preliminary round with an unblemished record, but were dismissed in a heart-breaker in the quarter finals.
The Horgan foursome would record steals of one in both the second and third ends against Winnipegger Jacques Gauthier, doubling their opponents 4-2 in a very tight defensive battle to start things off.
Not holding last shot advantage was no more of a cross to bear in game two for the Horgan-led, Manitoba-based team, stealing two in the third and sixth ends, and stopping Rich Ruohonen of Minneapolis by a final score of 6-2.
The team appeared to be in great shape in the playoffs, up 3-0 after three and 4-2 after five, before surrendering two in the sixth and a steal of one in the eighth and falling 5-4 to Ty Dilello of Winnipeg.
No slowing down now, as Horgan is back in action this coming weekend at the Oakville Fall Classic, with younger brother Jacob (Horgan) and his new junior (U21) team of Scott Mitchell, Mitchell Cortello and Chase Dussesoy also in the field.
