Nordin defeats Bonot for mixed title

Joey Payeur

Bryan Bonot was having such a trying day, he even lost track of which stones he was supposed to throw.
The Stratton skip’s sixth-end miscue, when he forfeited his first shot after delivering the wrong-coloured rock, was symbolic of his team’s difficulties Sunday afternoon as Tim Nordin beat Bonot 8-2 in six ends to capture the ‘A’-event of the 22-team Rainy River mixed bonspiel.
Nordin, along with third Jen Armstrong, second Clint Arm-strong, and lead Amelia Pirkl, exchanged single points with Bonot to be deadlocked at 1-1 after two ends.
But then the Rainy River skip made a superb half-rock takeout of Bonot’s shot stone to score three in the third for a 4-1 lead.
Bonot was facing three Nordin rocks in the fourth, but pulled off a hit-and-stick under pressure to score one and cut the lead to two.
Nordin widened his lead with a deuce in the fifth for a 6-2 cushion, and it was handshake time soon after as Bonot’s comeback attempt faded away after he followed his first-shot error by wrecking on a wall of stones that protected Nordin’s two shot rocks.
In the ‘B’-event final, Rainy River skip Allan Wolanicki and his team of third Susan Wolanicki, second Allen Pratt, and lead Sarah Berg also had an early end to their afternoon—but not the one they expected after falling behind 4-0 to the Patti Bon-homme rink, also of Rainy River.
In a remarkable turnaround, though, Wolanicki scored five in the fourth and then stole four more in the fifth en route to a 10-4 victory which ended with another steal of one in the sixth.
Dale Morrison’s 8-5 win in the ‘C’-event final over the Jackie Gaborieau rink in another all-Rainy River confrontation was the only one of Sunday’s match-ups to go the eight-end distance.
And the late-going became far more interesting than Morrison was hoping for.
After scoring two in the first and stealing one in the second for a 3-0 lead, Morrison watched Gaborieau score singles in the third and fourth ends to pull within one.
Morrison rebounded with a deuce in the fifth to go up 5-2, and then stole another in the sixth when a draw by Cathy Morrison rebounded with a deuce in the fifth to go up 5-2, and then stole another in the sixth when a draw by Cathy Seguin, throwing skip stones for Gaborieau in the final, came up light.
Another missed draw forced Gaborieau to take one in the seventh, but her team was in position to tie the game in the eighth by lying three.
But after Morrison took out only one Gaborieau stone with his first shot, Seguin accidentally tapped one of her own rocks back onto to her second shot rock, removing it from the house and saving Morrison the trouble of throwing his final stone.
Event organizers already have their sights set on next year’s bonspiel, which will coincide with the town’s 100th anniversary.