Robertson grabs senior spot

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This article was published 02/11/2010 (5681 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Neepawa skip Kelly Robertson has a berth in the Strathcona senior men’s provincial championships Feb. 24-28 at the Heather Curling Club.

St. Vital skip Don Nelson does not.

The two teams squared off in a leap-frog match Monday evening at the Fort Garry Curling Club, with Robertson taking the McDiarmid Lumber senior men’s bonspiel title 7-5. The plum at the end of the game was the provincial berth.

The teams played it tight, with both sides matching the other until the 10th. Robertson scored deuces in the first and fifth ends as well as the ninth, while Nelson had deuces in the second and sixth ends and a single in the eighth.

It was the ninth that broke the routine however, when Robertson came up with a crucial draw for two, forcing Nelson to try and come back one more time to either tie and force and extra end, or win it with a three.

Nelson conceded the victory to Robertson with one rock remaining.

Robertson, who curls with third Doug Armour, second Peter Prokopowich and lead Bob Scales, said the ninth end was the turning point.

“There were actually some good hit-and-rolls, and that’s what made all the twos. Both teams were making them, so it was a well played game on both sides. But the deuce on the ninth was the turning point. It gave us just a little bit of a jump coming home.”

Nelson agreed, but was still feeling pretty good having finished second, under the circumstances. “This was a pickup team for us. There was only Dean (third Duguid) and I playing, but last week we got Dave Penner (lead) to play. Dave Priestley (second) is actually with Robin Nelson’s team, but we didn’t have a fourth at the time, and their team wasn’t in this.

“So the guys were introducing themselves to each other at the first game on Friday morning. So to get all the way to the final here is a pretty good run.”

Looking back to the decisive ninth, Nelson said, “the ice was fudging hard. It had dropped from 25 seconds down to 22 and it was patchy, so you just never new. My first rock just over-curled and it went two inches too far. The second one picked and left them a draw with some backing to the full four for two.”

allan.besson@freepress.mb.ca