Ursel inches out the victory
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Playing on a very tricky sheet of ice here yesterday, Bob Ursel of Kelowna and Greg McAulay of Richmond traded some clutch shotmaking before Ursel finally prevailed 8-7 in an extra end. The outcome and the Purple Hearts (provincial championship crests) weren’t determined until after a measurement showed Ursel had the shot rock by less than an inch.
Ursel, the 1985 world junior men’s champion, will be returning to his home province of Manitoba for the Tim Hortons Brier next month in Winnipeg. Ursel is backed by Jim Cotter, who throws the final stones, Kevin Folk and Rick Sawatsky. Folk is the son of two-time Canadian and world champion Rick Folk of Kelowna. Cotter, Folk and Sawatsky will all be Brier rookies.
“I have been dreaming about going to the Brier since I was eight years old when I watched my dad play in it in 1989 in Saskatoon,” said Kevin Folk. “This feels great to be going to the Brier after losing two previous B.C. finals.”
The Ursel team started strongly and scored a deuce on the first end after McAulay crashed on a guard. Ursel then went up 3-0 on the next end when McAulay failed to execute a double. Trailing 4-1 in the fourth end, McAulay generated a deuce after third Ken Maskiewich had a hit-and-roll behind cover.
With the score tied 5-5 playing the ninth, Cotter made a difficult double to give his team a deuce. But the scrappy McAulay team come right back with a score of two to force the extra end.
“We battled hard all week and this is a great accomplishment for this team,” said Ursel. “That was a hell of a game and one of the best B.C. finals that I’ve been involved in.
“That shot that Jim [Cotter] made for us on the ninth end was the shot of the game. That shot gave us back some momentum. It was thrown perfectly and we had to sweep it right to get it by the guard.”
In the extra end, with four rocks in the house, and Ursel having the counter on the button, McAulay attempted to play a gentle tap to sit two. However, his shot was just a touch light as the measurement revealed.
After the McAulay shot, the entire Ursel team checked out the rocks in the house and they all determined that they had the counter. Cotter then threw his final stone into the boards.
“We all had a look at it and agreed that we had shot rock,” said Cotter, a two-time B.C. junior men’s champion. Cotter and Sawatsky also went to the 2005 Olympic Curling Trials with Pat Ryan.
“I struggled in the first couple of ends and we got behind them early,” said McAulay. “I knew that we would have our chances to score and we finally capitalized to get back into it.
“Curling is a game of inches and today we were on the wrong side. When I threw my final stone, the sweepers thought I had the weight but it never got the line.”
McAulay, Maskiewich, Bill Fisher and Aaron Watson also lost last year’s final to Dean Joanisse of Victoria in Langley.
“I know what is feels like to lose back-to-back finals as it happened to me in 1994 and 1995,” said Ursel, who turns 43 tomorrow. “I feel really bad for Greg’s team because they are such a class act to play against.”
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/sports/story.html?id=d4ed5a2b-98c9-4fe4-b408-0475e4d0f18d
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