A day like no other: Sigurdson earns men's, women's berths in 6 hours

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Bob Sigurdson curls in the provincial curling playdowns at Charleswood Curling Club Sunday. (JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Dennis Bohn earned his team a berth Sunday. (JOHN WOODS)

Bob Sigurdson did some multi-tasking Sunday, earning a trip to both the men's and women's provincial curling championships in a span of six hours.

Sigurdson spent the morning coaching Kate Cameron's team from Stonewall -- on which his daughter, Erika, plays third -- to the Interlake berth in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Then he drove to the Charleswood Curling Club, promptly scored four in the first end, and held on for a 9-6 win over Randy Dutiaume of Thistle to clinch one of five Winnipeg berths in the Safeway Championship, slated for Feb. 6-10 in Neepawa.

"It's been a good day," said the skip, whose West Kildonan rink of third Darren Oryniak, second Al Purdy and lead Chad Barkman went undefeated in the regional playdown. "We played a good first end. We got a break, but we got our weight early, and that's the key."

The break was a missed takeout and a wrecked come-around by Dutiaume, who sent his broom flying down the neighbouring sheet after his final rock.

Dutiaume narrowed the gap to 7-6 after a steal in the seventh end, but could never draw even. Sigurdson said it's always tricky to sit on a big lead with nine ends left to play.

"It's tough because you've got to play defensively," he said. "But if you play defensive with the free-guard zone you give up twos. But we thought we'd trade twos for ones and burn off a few ends."

The Sigurdson rink has reached the final eight in two of the last four Safeway Championships.

"It's just fun to compete in the arenas on that type of ice, and against the big boys," he said, adding that his team believes it can compete with the top teams in the province. "If you don't think that way, you shouldn't be going."

Also punching a ticket to Neepawa on Sunday afternoon was Dennis Bohn's rink from Assiniboine Memorial. Along with twin brother David at third, Daniel Gagne at second and Cory Wolchuk at lead, Bohn beat Justin Stanus of Fort Rouge 7-3 in the other A-event final.

Bohn said his team was sharp all week, coming up with the right shots at the right times to get through the event without a loss.

"The team played really well when they needed to," he said.

The Bohn brothers have been to their share of Safeway Championships, but this year's will be the first for Gagne. The brothers will be hoping to recapture the groove that carried them all the way to the provincial final in 2008 before losing to Kerry Burtnyk.

"You try to throw a lot of rocks and hope you peak at the right time," said the skip. "The key is just to make the shots and see what happens."

With David welcoming a new baby into his family a couple weeks ago, the Bohn team has had a lighter schedule than usual this season.

"It's been a little bit of a relaxed season, but hopefully we'll ramp it up a bit now," Dennis Bohn said.

David Kraichy of Fort Rouge handed Dutiaume a second loss in the evening draw to clinch a berth out of the B-event. Also coming out of the B-side were Bruce Jones of St. Vital, who gave Stanus a second loss, and Scott Madams of Fort Rouge, who defeated Jim Coleman.

Jill Thurston of the Granite won the A-event of the Winnipeg regional, defeating Joelle Brown of Assiniboine Memorial 8-2 to earn a trip to Stonewall for the Jan. 23-27 Scotties. Joining her will be Darcy Robertson of Fort Rouge and Karen Fallis of Wildewood, who earned berths in the B-event.

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Men's berths

Safeway Championship regional berth winners:

Central: Rene Kolly (Manitou); Geoff Trimble (Gladstone)

Interlake: Shawn Magnusson (Riverton); Jared Kolomaya (Stonewall)

Norman: Travis Graham (Burntwood); Rae Hainstock (Burntwood)

Parkland: Greg Todoruk (Dauphin); Rae Kujanpaa (Dauphin)

Winnipeg: Dennis Bohn (Assiniboine); Bob Sigurdson (West Kildonan); Scott Madams (Fort Rouge); Bruce Jones (St. Vital); David Kraichy (Fort Rouge)

Westman: Graham Freeman (Virden); Kelly Robertson (Neepawa); Blair Goethals (Deloraine)

Eastman: Brendan Taylor (Beausejour); Wayne Ewasko (Beausejour)

Women's berths

Scotties Tournament Of Hearts regional berth winners:

Central: Deb McCreanor (La Salle)

Eastman: Colleen Kilgallen (Pinawa)

Interlake: Kate Cameron (Stonewall)

Norman: Charlene Norquay (Burntwood)

Parkland: Lisa Menard (Dauphin)

Winnipeg: Jill Thurston (Granite)Darcy Robertson (Fort Rouge); Karen Fallis (Wildewood)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 17, 2012 C1