The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Eleven teams took to the ice this past weekend in Snow Lake, all trying to capture the Zone 13 Safeway Select berth. The action got underway on Friday at 3:00 p.m. with three games playing on the extra series side of the draw. On that draw it was Doug Salahub (Snow Lake) hammering Bart Leifso (Flin Flon Curling Club) 7-1. Also Mike Fjermstad (The Pas) defeated Grant McLuckie (Flin Flon Curling Club) 8-5 and Bob Forsythe (Snow Lake) downed Tony Flynn (Flin Flon Curling Club) 5-3. The next draw at 8:00 p.m. was the A-side quarter finals. Those games went as follows: Bob Bensen (Flin Flon Curling Club) got by Doug Salahub 9-7, Mike Fjermstad beat Jerry Kozlowski (The Pas) 9-6, John Reeves (The Pas) handled Don Holmes (Willow Park Curling Club) 7-3 and Ed Sattelberger (Flin Flon Curling Club) defeated Bob Forsythe 8-4. The games started again Saturday at 9:00 a.m. with three extra series games on the B-side. It was Flynn hammering Kozlowski 12-5, Holmes drubbed Leifso 8-4 and McLuckie squeaked by Forsythe 6-5. At 12:30 p.m. the A-side semis took to the ice with Fjermstad upsetting Bensen 6-5 and Reeves got by Sattelberger 8-6. At 4:00 p.m. was the A-side final and Fjermstad stayed on a roll with a 7-5 decision. The B-side was back on the ice at 8:00 p.m. with quarters being played. In one game it was veteran John Reeves taking on Tony Flynn's upstart team of rookies playing in their first ever Zone. Flynn's team played like seasoned vets and easily beat Reeves 9-5. Other games saw Holmes give Fjermstad his first loss 8-4, Salahub bounced Sattelberger out of the competition with a 7-6 decision and McLuckie knocked out the number one seed Bob Bensen 8-7 with a steal in the 10th. Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. was the B-side semi-finals and it saw Salahub defeat McLuckie 7-6 with a deuce in 10. In the other game the Cinderella story ended when Holmes gave Flynn a 9-3 beating. This set up the B-final at 12:30 p.m. pitting Holmes against Salahub. Holmes scored three in the first end and never looked back, cruising to a 8-5 win. So, for the second time, Holmes and Fjermstad would do battle, but this meeting would be for all the marbles. Holmes and his team of Jamie Switzer, Jim Meyer, and Doug Dutkawich, and Fjermstad with Brad Hyrich, Aaron Wallace and Steven Illess took to the ice at 4:00 p.m. The first end saw Holmes facing two with his last rock but he hit and stuck for a single. In the second it was Fjermstad who was looking at two Holmes counters in the back eight. Fjermstad cooly played a quiet tap and scored a single. The third end saw Holmes once again facing two and his draw just held on at the back four to score a single. With his last rock in the fourth Fjermstad made a stellar cross the house double to score the first deuce of the game. He now took the lead 3-2. In the fifth Holmes drew for a single making it 3-3 after five ends. Fjermstad missed a chance for two when his draw slid too far and had to settle for a single in the sixth. Holmes missed an opportunity for a deuce when he was heavy on a draw and with the single point the game was tied at 4-4 after seven ends. In the eighth Fermstad was heavy on his final rock and gave up a huge steal of three. In nine Holmes made a pistol freeze with his last and Fjermstad had to settle for one. Holmes now led 7-5 playing the 10th and had the hammer. Holmes had a wide open hit in the 10th for the win and made no mistake capturing his first Zone title. Holmes' rink will now join Blaine Gogal's team (Flin Flon Curling Club), going to Selkirk February 9-15 for the Safeway Select Provincials. Congratulations and good luck representing the North.
