The Robbie Gordon Sudbury Curling Club rink have survived the wrath of Western Canada at the 2017 Everest Senior Men's Curling Championships in Fredericton.
Tackling round robin play with a tough three game stretch, right off the mark, Gordon and his Northern Ontario rink of Ron Henderson, Dion Dumontelle and Doug Hong will gladly take a 2-1 record heading into their seventh draw matchup with Nova Scotia (Alan O'Leary) at 3 p.m. March 21.
Making their fourth appearance, as a team, at Senior Nationals, Team Gordon were not about to be thrown by an opening game 7-4 loss to the Wade White Alberta rink Monday afternoon, dusting themselves off that evening by tripling Manitoba (Murray Warren) 6-2.
Gordon took advantage of the hammer, when needed, scoring two in the fourth and three in the sixth, while limiting Manitoba to just a single point in the third and the fifth ends.
A 6-2 scored proved to be a charm, as the Sudbury quartet bested Saskatchewan (Darrell McKee) by that very same margin earlier today. The teams were tied at two after three ends, when the Northern Ontario champs got on a roll.
After picking up one with last rock advantage in the third end, Gordon and company stole two in the fourth, and one point each in ends five and six, all but sealing themselves the win at that point.
Following their battle of the 2-1 rinks with Nova Scotia today, the locals will close out Pool "B" action on Wednesday, facing the Northwest Territories (0-3 - Melvin Sittichinli) at 8 a.m. and capping things off opposite New Brunswick (3-0 - Terry Odishaw) at 6:30 p.m. March 21.
The top four from each pool move on to the championship playoff round, beginning on Thursday. The best finish, to date, for the Gordon foursome was a bronze medal performance back in 2014.
