Boehmer ends Mouck’s magic run in men’s final

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This article was published 26/02/2019 (2596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RIVERS — Butch Mouck knocked out a pair of past provincial senior men’s curling champions to reach Monday’s final, but he couldn’t find a way to defeat a third.

The Gilbert Plains product and his team of Glenn Parrott, Scott Gray and James Barnett lost the Manitoba senior men’s curling final 7-1 to Dave Boehmer’s foursome from Petersfield at the Riverdale Community Centre.

“It’s pretty disappointing to come out and we weren’t as sharp as we were all week,” Mouck said. “Dave’s team played unbelievable. They must have played 97.5 per cent. They were on fire. They squeaked everything. We were so close and then all of a sudden the game gets away from us.”

Mouck had a solid run at provincials, finishing second his pool at 6-1 with his only loss coming to Boehmer, who topped the group at 7-0. Mouck advanced to the 3-vs.-4 Page playoff game where he defeated three-time provincial champion Kelly Robertson of Neepawa 9-8 before topping two-time provincial champion Randy Neufeld 6-3 in the semifinal. Boehmer reached the final by upending Neufeld 6-5 in the 1-vs.-2 Page game.

The final was a different story when Mouck took on Boehmer and his defending championship team of Terry McRae, Tom Want and George Hacking.

After scoring one in the first end Boehmer’s team made four perfect draws behind cover in the second, leaving Mouck facing three with his last. He tried an angle-raise takeout on a path he didn’t know and missed it to give up the steal of three.

Things didn’t get any easier for Mouck after that as his team missed four attempted raises to give up a steal of two in the third end and then he rubbed on shot rock on a draw to give up one in the fourth.

After making a hit and stay for one in the fifth, the teams shook hands.

For Boehmer, it capped an undefeated run through the championship event.

“I never thought we’d go undefeated with the calibre of curling. It’s great,” he said. “There are games we should have lost so it’s a false 9-0 but we had a couple of missed draws some games and other guys missed some draws so we had some luck to go undefeated.”

Boehmer was fueled by last year’s run at senior nationals. The team went 6-4 but was haunted by a loss to the Northwest Territories in the second draw that cost them a playoff spot.

They came out this year determined to get back to nationals. Now that they’ve accomplished that goal, they’re setting their focus on making a playoff appearance in Chilliwack, B.C. The Canadian senior men’s event runs there from March 22 to 28.

“We beat all the teams that were in the final and the third-place team so we know we can compete there,” Boehmer said. “We’re looking to go back hungry and take it all.”

Boehmer did feel empathy for Mouck’s crew as he has played in those kind of games where the opponent shoots the lights out.

“Those things just kind of happen,” he said. “I felt so bad for Butch’s team because we’ve been on that end before when nothing is going right. We did make a lot of shots but I know they’re a much better team than that. I’m sure he was hoping for a better game than that.

“When it’s 4-0, you have to gamble and things get away from you.”

As for Mouck, he’s proud to have reached his first-ever provincial final, but wishes it would have gone a little better.

“At the moment it kind of sucks,” he said. “We played great all week. We had a really good week. We played tough teams and came back, played good with the lead and the ice was fantastic. Everyone was awesome here.”

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