Owls bring home silver from NWOSAAs

Ken Johnston
Editor

They fell just short of fulfilling their dream, but the Rainy River High School Owls still managed to bring home silver last week.
Trevor Bonot-skip, Matt Neilson-Third, Jason Seguin-Second and Kevin Nordberg-lead had a chance to go to the All Ontario Championships in curling last week but ended up losing out just short of that goal at the NWOSAA playdowns in Terrace Bay. This year the All Ontarios are being held in Thunder Bay, something that rarely happens.
In their first game, last Monday, Bonot’s foursome whipped Dryden’s butt 8-2 in six ends.
It was closer in game 2 when the Owls faced Nipigon-Red Rock. Narrowly winning 6-5, Bonot said that both he and the other skip missed their last rock. That cost the Nip-Red Rock the game.
In game 3, the Owls played Port Arthur Collegiate Institute of Thunder Bay. Rainy handled them easily winning 9-4, despite the fact that Bonot felt they were the best curlers individually. “They were just not good as a team,” added Bonot.
In the fourth game, Bonot’s team faced the home town favourite Terrace Bay who was tied with them 3-0 in round robin play. “We were down one coming home with the hammer but they stole one to beat us 6-4,” said Bonot.
The fifth and final game of the round robins was against Dag Hammarskjold of Thunder Bay and the Owls lost another close one 8-7. “We were down two coming home and had to hit and stick, but instead my shot rolled out,” said Bonot.
RRHS ended up tied with Dryden for second behind the 5-0 Terrace Bay. They played off last Tuesday evening in another close one. “We were tied coming home with the hammer.” This time Bonot did not miss his shot, narrowly squeezing by a guard to get into the house and win the game 6-4. That earned them the silver medal but unfortunately only the top team goes to the All Ontarios.
“We were just not curling as well as we did at NORWOSAAs,” concluded Bonot.