McNamee hits bump in road

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This article was published 18/11/2010 (5665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MORRIS — Manitoba’s romp through the field at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship hit a major roadblock Wednesday night and suddenly a team that had been the class of the field all week finds itself in a fight for a playoff spot as their round robin wraps up today.

The problem is that a critical 6-4 loss to Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming at the Morris Curling Club Wednesday night dropped Manitoba’s Terry McNamee all the way from first place into a tie for third heading into Manitoba’s two final round-robin games here today.

P.E.I.’s Robert Campbell and Nova Scotia’s Flemming lead the field at 7-1 heading into today’s play, while Manitoba sits tied for third with Ontario’s Chris Gardner at 7-2.

Only the top three teams at the end of the round robin qualify for the playoffs and McNamee will not have an easy path today.

Manitoba faces Brier veteran Charlie Sullivan of New Brunswick this afternoon in a game that is virtually a must-win for Manitoba and definitely a must-win for New Brunswick, who are in fifth place and just barely alive with a 6-3 record.

Should Manitoba get by New Brunswick, they will quite possibly also need to defeat Northern Ontario (2-6) tonight to guarantee themselves at least a playoff tie-breaker game on Friday.

It is not, suffice to say, where Manitoba — with Lana Hunter at third, Allan Lawn at second and lead Lisa Blixhavn — expected to be after a week in which Manitoba has held nothing less than a share of first place since the first rocks were thrown in this event last Saturday.

And that predicament will also not be to the liking of McNamee, who is making his fourth trip to the Canadian Mixed this week and made clear earlier Wednesday that nothing less than total victory is acceptable.

“Playing at home, we really want to come out of here with a gold medal,” said Brandon’s McNamee. “We came here for only one thing and anything less than that and I won’t be happy for sure.”

Still, Blixhavn has no illusions about the challenge involved in taking down a Canadian curling championship of any kind, at home or away.

“I knew exactly what I was getting into in coming here,” said Blixhavn. “This wasn’t ever going to be easy.”

McNamee made the semifinal in two of three previous trips to the Canadian Mixed, but lost both times.

While Manitoba wraps up its round robin tonight, there is actually one final round-robin draw Friday morning before the playoffs begin.

The first-place team will advance to the final Saturday afternoon (1:30 p.m., Morris Curling Club), while the second- and third-place teams will play in the semifinal.

That game will take place at 7 p.m. Friday evening, unless two or more tiebreakers are required, in which case the semifinal would be played Saturday morning at 9 a.m..

McNamee beat Alberta’s Tim Krassman 7-5 earlier Wednesday and was alone in first place at 7-1 heading into last night’s contest against Flemming, a two-time Canadian Mixed champion and 2005 Brier finalist.

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But for all Flemming’s credentials, McNamee owned him statistically through nine ends Wednesday night, carrying an 86-67 edge in shooting percentage over his Nova Scotia counterpart into the tenth end.

What’s more, Manitoba held hammer heading home and trailed by just one at 5-4. McNamee had a shot for the win with the last rock of the game — a bumper-weight takeout of a partly open Nova Scotia stone on the top four-foot.

But McNamee overthrew the attempt, his rock crashed on a guard and Nova Scotia stole its way into first place.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

can’t tell the teams without A program c9