Danny Armstrong rink wins 53rd RR Men's bonspiel

By Ken Johnston
Editor

It was as exciting as watching the winter olympics at the 53rd Men’s bonspiel in Rainy River over the weekend.
Twelve teams competed in a round-robin style bonspiel in hopes of making the gold medal event.
A team that has made it to the “A” event many times, Trevor Bonot’s rink, ended up squaring off against the Danny Armstrong rink.
Bonot struck first with a draw to the four foot to force a measurement and count one.
In the second end Armstrong tied it at 1-1.
But in the third Bonot fired a takeout rock to take out Armstrong’s shot rock and count three.
Armstrong answered with one in the fourth, but the back and forth game was far from over. Bonot added two in the fifth to lead 6-2.
Fans in the gallery were certain it was going to be Bonot’s win, but Armstrong came on strong again in the sixth scoring three to make it 6-5.
In the 7th Bonot blanked the end to hold the hammer coming home. However, that was not enough of advantage as Danny’s crew of Larry Armstrong, Brent Anderson and Dewey Beckel cranked things up a notch, putting extreme pressure on Bonot’s team of Bryan Bonot, Craig Armstrong and Andy McCormick.
Trevor threw his second last stone wide and instead of taking one of Armstrong’s out he gave him a guard.
Lying three Armstrong threw up another guard forcing Bonot to try a raise, but he missed again and ended up raising another Armstrong rock to give them four and victory with a 9-6 final score.
In the “B” event it was the Tim Nordin rink facing the Matt Johnson rink.
Johnson scored 2 in the first and when Nordin missed his shot in the second he bumped them in for a point.
However, Nordin, just fresh off the Northern Ontario Playdowns, did not miss with hammer in the third, taking Johnson’s rock out and staying for one. It was 3-1 after three.
Johnson got another break when Nordin’s final rock picked and missed its mark. Johnson then could draw for two but was shy and counted one.
Johnson then tried a narrow take out but missed leaving Nordin the draw for two. It was now 4-3 for Johnson.
In the sixth Johnson scored two to take a 6-3 lead, but Nordin was not down for the count yet. He scored two in the 7th to make it a one point game at 6-5 for Johnson coming home.
In the 8th Nordin was light on his last rock and Johnson did not have to throw the hammer, winning it 6-5.
In the “C” event it was Ralph Armstrong’s rink against the Mitch Seguin rink.
Seguin, also fresh off the Northern Ontario Playdowns dominated scoring three in the first, one in the fourth and four in the fourth.
Armstrong picked up one in the third but after four they shook hands, losing to Seguin 8-1.