Sudbury's senior rink making push for playoffs

Heading into yet another must-win game, this time on Friday afternoon versus the Yukon, skip Rob Gordon and his Sudbury Curling Club rink have given themselves a fighting chance.

The Northern Ontario representatives at the 2012 Canadian Senior Men's Curling Championships in Abbotsford, B.C., have posted a record of 6-3 to date, sitting dead even with both Ontario and Newfoundland/Labrador, with the 20th draw about to begin.

Gordon, Glenn Goss (Newfoundland) and Brian Lewis (Ontario) find themselves deadlocked in third place, trailing Rob Armitage of Alberta (8-1) and Dennis Graber of British Columbia (7-2), with all teams having two games remaining. With only the top four teams making it through to the playoffs, one of those five teams will be sitting on the sidelines come Saturday morning.

After fluttering with a .500 mark through the early part of the week, Gordon and his team of Ron Henderson (vice), Dion Dumontelle (second) and lead Doug Hong picked an ideal time to string together some victories.

Boasting a record of 3-3 Tuesday evening, the locals recorded a huge come-from-behind win over Saskatchewan, taking down Eugene Hritzuk 7-5 after trailing 4-2 at the fifth end break.

A score of three in the sixth end and a steal of one in the ninth proved to be the difference. Down to a "one game a day" schedule, Team Gordon made the most of their solitary appearance on Wednesday, doubling the Goss Newfoundland crew 8-4.

Northern Ontario then ran their winning streak to three games yesterday afternoon, bouncing New Brunswick (Mark Armstrong) 9-4 as Gordon scored two points in four separate ends.

Of course, it all goes for naught if Gordon falters against the Yukon, winners of just one of their nine games to date. Yet even with a win, Northern Ontario is not in the clear, closing out their round robin schedule with a tough match against Alberta Friday evening.

The Sudbury quartet are undoubtedly hoping that the stamina that was built up curling more than 50 games in January and February alone comes in handy as this very grueling week comes to an end.

Posted by Laurel Myers