Bonot rink heads to NWOSSA’s

Ken Johnston
Editor

Like the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team, it has been years since Rainy River High School’s boys curling team has won gold, but Trevor Bonot’s rink has done it!
Bonot, along with Matt Neilson-third, Jason Seguin-second and Kevin Nordberg-lead brought home the NORWOSSA trophy last Wednesday from Sioux Lookout.
The team opened up the playdowns with a loss to Beaver Brae of Kenora, a team that Bonot said they had beat earlier in the season. It was 2-2 after six ends, however the Owls missed five shots in a row to let them lie four and take the game. However they shook off the 6-2 loss and began to battle their way to the top of the heap.
Their second game was against Atikokan last Tuesday afternoon. Bonot said that the team curled really well. However bad-luck saw two of his rocks pick which gave Atikokan a chance to catch up. However the Owls put it away in the final end picking up a four ender. Bonot didn’t even have to fire his last rock down. RRHS won 9-5.
Early Wednesday morning, the 1-1 Owls faced Dryden who was unbeaten at that point. “We knew it was going to be close...we were two up coming home without the hammer,” said Bonot. However the Dryden Eagles ran out of rocks and Rainy won 6-4.
Thomas Aquinas of Kenora was next on the Owls war path. It was close until the seventh end and then Rainy stole four and put the 8-3 victory away.
In their final round robin game the Bonot foursome faced the Red Lake Rams in a non-starter. The Owls obliterated the Rams 9-1 with the game ending in six ends.
The final results saw a three way tie emerge between RRHS, Dryden and Beaver Brae. RR faced Dryden in a four end tie breaker and lost 5-4 when Bonot’s last rock picked. That forced RR to play Beaver Brae in a must win game. They beat Brae 4-2 in another four end tie breaker. Then it was onto Dryden for a full game to determine who would win NORWOSSA gold and silver.
RR handily defeated the Eagles 9-3 in a game that lasted only to the fifth end.
That means RRHS will now compete in NWOSSA’s in Terrace Bay March 25th. If they win there they will get to compete in the All Ontarios (OFSSA’s), which this year are being held in Thunder Bay. Usually they are held in Southern Ontario.
The last boys team from RRHS to win the NORWOSSA gold was the Murray McDonald rink. Roger Nielson, Errol Advent and Craig Armstrong played on that team, which won NORWOSSA’s in 1984.