As the expression goes: close, but no cigar.
Representing both the Yukon and NWT at the 2010 Canadian Mixed Curling Championships in Burlington, Ontario, Whitehorse’s Team Scoffin came in last with a 1-10 record, but finished the event with three close losses that went down to the final rock.
“We haven’t have the opportunity to play a lot of games together in the road to the national championships - a couple practice-exhibition type games,” said Team Scoffin skip Wade Scoffin. “That’s just the reality of some of the teams we do send. The teams we send are very good curlers, very skilled, but the level of opportunity and frequencies to be in those pressure, meaningful situations is sometimes a little bit lacking. The way you get those opportunities is by putting yourself in those situations.”
Team Scoffin finished the bonspiel with a match against NFL and Labrador on Friday, losing in the extra end, on the last shot.
“They landed one right on the button and we tried to counter it but it wasn’t successful,” said Scoffin. “It was a really close game obviously and we were pleased with it.”
The final score was 7-6, with Newfoundland scoring two in the 10th end and one in the 11th.
The previous day Team Scoffin suffered a 10-6 loss to Team Saskatchewan. Scoffin feels his team played well in the match with the exception of the fifth end, giving up the bulky total of six points. However, Team Scoffin bounced back from the damaging end and eventually finagled themselves into having a shot for the win in the last end.
“We played well for most of the game - had one end where we fell asleep a little bit,” said Scoffin. “Seven out of the 10 ends we scored in, but unfortunately we were on the wrong end of the scoreboard.”
Scoffin’s win was a 7-2 triumph over Team Quebec early in the bonspiel.
“We played very steadily and controlled the game for the most part,” said Scoffin last week. “They’re a really experienced team, so we were really pleased with how everything turned out.”
The Yukon rink qualified to represent both territories in March, going 4-0 at the Yukon/NWT Mixed Championships in Whitehorse.
Joining Scoffin on the team are Steve Facteau, throwing second, Helen Strong third and Rhonda Horte as lead. Both Strong and Horte are former Scotties participants and all four play out of the Whitehorse Curling Club.
Team Darcy from Nova Scotia won the Championships with a 10-2 record, beating out Team Bice from Ontario in second and Team Montgomery from BC in third.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com