Kootenay rinks bounce back into the win column at Senior Men's in Trail
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Cranbrook’s Tom Shypitka stopped the bleeding his Kootenay rink was experiencing during Thursday’s action at the Tim Horton’s BC Senior Men’s Curling Championships Thursday in Trail.
Shypitka, third Fred Thomson of Nelson, second Don Freschi of Trail and Bill King of Fruitvale, broke open a close game with a combined five points in the fifth and sixth ends to double Kelowna’s Garry Gelowitz 8-4 during Draw six.
The win hallted a two-game losing streak and powered Shypitka into a two-way tie for second with Mel Steffin of the Royal City Curling Club at the eight-team Championship. Both rinks are 4-2.
Craig Lepine of Langley leads the field with a 5-1 record after dumping Rick Pughe of New Westminster 7-3.
Myran Nichol of Castlegar, the other Kootenay rink entered, also managed to bounce back into the win column with an 8-4 victory over winless Ken Teskey of Williams Lake.
Nichol, third Rick Brown, second Terry Kryzcka and lead Rob Babiarz, at 3-3, is locked in a three-way tie for fourth.
The final round robin draw goes Friday at 9 a.m. with Shypitka facing Teskey and Nichol up against Gelowitz.
Lepine battles Steffin while the two New Westminster rinks, Wes Craig and Rick Pughe, play in the other match.
Playoffs follow with the first round set for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday.
The Teresa Hiram rink of Grand Forks lost both games Thursday to sit at 1-5 in the Tim Horton’s B.C. Senior Women’s Curling Championships at the Trail Club.
Hiram, third Rhonda Lee Bedard, second Rose Beauchamp and lead indy Pettapiece lost 12-3 to Brenda Ridgeway of Nanaimo and 9-4 to Wendy Cseke of Salmon Arm Thursday.
Hiram meets winless Cheryl Wyatt of Terrace Friday.
Karen Lepine of Langley leads the women’s standings with a 6-0 mark.
Ridgeway is 5-1 while Debbie Jones-Walker of Nanaimo is third at 4-2.
