Ramsay a win away from playoff round

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This article was published 12/02/2016 (3704 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SELKIRK — Scott Ramsay will get another shot at Reid Carruthers.

The Brandonite, who curls out of the Thistle Curling Club in Winnipeg, scored a 6-5 victory over Jared Kolomaya in an A-side draw Thursday afternoon at the Viterra Championship, setting up a rematch with the defending provincial men’s champion. Last year in the Wheat City, Carruthers doubled up Ramsay 8-4 in a B-side qualifier. They meet in an A-side qualifier today at 8:30 a.m.

“It’s probably good for him and bad for us — the time, the fact that they’re really good,” Ramsay said. “Other than that we’ve just got to keep hoping that we get the odd break, capitalizing on some misses and you never know what can happen. It’s not like it’s two out of three, so the one-game showdown helps us. That’s our one advantage.”

Down 4-3 in the seventh end against Kolomaya, Ramsay — with a stone in the rings — executed a perfect split on one of his guards to score three and take a 6-3 lead, never looking back.

“The front end — very observant front end of ours — noticed that we should maybe give it a shot and that’s what we did and it worked out for us. That was a big point,” said Ramsay, who plays with Mark Taylor Ross McFadyen and Kyle Werenich. “That was the difference in the game.”

Brandon-born Mike McEwen and former Brandonite William Lyburn also advanced to A-side qualifiers. McEwen beat Terry McNamee of Brandon 11-4 to earn the right to face Dennis Bohn. Lyburn knocked off Kyle Foster 9-3 and will face Matt Dunstone.

McNamee’s foursome was eliminated from the bonspiel during Thursday’s final draw when he fell 7-4 to Rylan Young.

“We didn’t play very well tonight,” McNamee said. “We had our chances and we just didn’t throw it very good.”

Meanwhile, Steve Irwin’s foursome narrowly skirted elimination on Thursday.

After falling 9-3 to fifth-seeded Alex Forrest in an A-side morning draw, Irwin roared back from a 7-3 deficit stealing two in five, one in six and one more in the 10th end — after Derek Oryniak flashed on a pick attempt with his final shot — giving the Brandon club team an unlikely 8-7 win in their B-side contest.

Irwin’s team came out strong, drawing for three in the first end before reverting to the form it exhibited against Forrest. Irwin gave up a deuce in two and a steal of five in the third end.

“We struggled big time with the weight and the ice,” Irwin said of sheet E.

“It’s so much different than the other sheets and we weren’t expecting a miss. He had an open draw in five that would have put him up five and we stole two and that kind of gave us new life.

“As the back half went on both teams seemed to pick up the ice a little better. That’s why it was so tight.”

Irwin faces Trevor Loreth in a B-side semifinal today.

In the evening draw, Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch kept his Viterra playoff hopes alive with a victory on the B-side of the draw.

Marnoch scored a three- and four-ender before hanging on for an 11-10 win over Tyler Drews. Marnoch will face Taylor McIntyre in his B-side semifinal at 12:15 p.m.

The other Westman-based teams weren’t as lucky as Marnoch and Irwin on Thursday, bowing out of the event.

Butch Mouck was one of three Westman-based skips who suffered a quick exit, but his was the most unexpected.

Leading 6-2 after seven ends against Doug Harrison in the morning draw, the Minnedosa club skip, who was making his first appearance at men’s provincials since 2001, gave up three in eight then steals of one in the 10th and 11th ends to hand Harrison a win in their B-side game.

Drawing against two in the extra, Mouck’s final stone didn’t even reach the hog line.

Clearwater’s Steve Pauls was also knocked off in the morning draw after Oryniak slung a draw into the button area for a deuce in 10 for an 8-7 win. Pauls had just gone ahead with a deuce of his own in the ninth end.

“I hate getting used to stuff like this because you want to win here but we know it’s tough and you’ve got to be on your game,” Pauls said.

Ray Baker from the Dauphin club also lost Thursday, 8-2, to Hayden Forrester.

Baker conceded defeat when Forrester hit for four in the seventh end. Late Wednesday night, another Dauphin team, skipped by Greg Todoruk, was eliminated when Young stole one in the 10th end to win 7-6.

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