Representing the north on a national stage, a Sault-based curling foursome is battling it out against Canada’s top senior teams this week in Ottawa
A Sault-based rink is currently competing at the Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Ottawa.
At the event as Team Northern Ontario, the team from the YNCU Curling Centre is skipped by Al Harnden and includes fourth Al Belec, second Duncan Bell, and lead Marc Barrette.
The foursome has a record of 1-2 through two days at the tournament, which opened on Saturday.
The northern Ontario rink opened the tournament on Saturday with a 5-4 win over Quebec’s Robert Desjardins.
Speaking with Curling Canada following the win, Harnden said he was taking in as much as he could at the event.
“For me, it’s just about enjoying the event while I can,” Harnden said. “I’m grateful to be here at 72 years old and compete with the best seniors in Canada. We’re going to be playing hard every game and hopefully we give everybody a tough game, just like we did this time.”
On Sunday, Team Northern Ontario opened the day with an 8-6 loss to British Columbia’s Neil Dangerfield.
Dangerfield scored a pair in the seventh end to take an 8-5 lead before giving up a single in the eighth end.
Team Northern Ontario wrapped up play on Sunday with a 12-7 loss to Manitoba’s Dave Boehmer.
The game was a tale of big ends on both sides. After giving up a steal of one in the opening end, Boehmer scored six in the second end before stealing two more in the third end. The northern rink scored four in the fourth end and stole one more in the fifth to make it an 8-6 game before Boehmer scored four more in the sixth.
Team Northern Ontario is back in action on Monday when they face Nunavut in the afternoon draw.