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Championship heats up the ice

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, February 18, 2010

LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Victory was bittersweet over the weekend for a team of curling firefighters from Fort Simpson.

Led by skip Roger Pilling Brian Jaffray, Brian Harold and Dave Magarey won the NWT Firefighters Curling Championship held in the village from Feb. 12-14. After beating five other teams the Fort Simpson team won the honour of representing the territory at the Canadian Firefighter Curling Championship.

NNSL photo/graphic

Despite the fact a Fort Simpson team led by skip Roger Pilling won the NWT Firefighters Curling Championship Wyatt Scheller of Hay River, pictured above, will be putting together the team that will represent the territory at the national level. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Due to prior commitments, however, Pilling and the team will not attend the event in Regina, Sask., at the end of March. Instead Wyatt Scheller, a member of the second-place Hay River team will put together the team for the nationals.

The Fort Simpson curlers are no strangers to the event. Pilling has competed at the national level eight times while Brian Jaffray has gone twice and Brian Harold went once. Based on previous experience Pilling said the competition at this year's territorials was stiffer than usual.

"There was way more close games than there traditionally is," said Pilling.

Normally, three or four games during the territorials go into the 10th end. During this year's round-robin-style tournament, however, there were only three or four games that were decided before the 10th.

Teams from Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Smith, Yellowknife and two from the village played each other once for a total of five games a piece.

Pilling's team won its first four games and tied the final game after only playing six ends against Fort Smith because the outcome wouldn't change the standings .

Playing Hay River on Friday night the two teams were tied 11-11 going into the 10th end. The Simpson team had the hammer in the final end but didn't need it because they'd already placed a rock closest to the button for a 12-11 win.

The same scenario played out again on Saturday morning in Simpson's game against Yellowknife. Tied 9-9 going into the 10th Pilling won by one rock for a 10-9 victory.

One of the toughest games was against the second village team of Pat Rowe, Laurie Ozmun, Scott Cameron and Scott Whitmore.

Team Pilling was up 6-4 going into the 10th but as Rowe came down with the hammer he only had to remove one of Pilling's rocks from the house to be left with the four closest to the button.

"It had potential," said Pilling about the game.

Rowe, however, missed his shot giving Pilling a 7-4 win.

Pilling said he and his teammates owe their wins to confidence. Although the team was down in some ends and gave up a few ends we just kept plugging away, he said.

The event has a definite competitive side but it's also about having fun, said Al German, the skip for the team from Inuvik.

"We just came to see all our brother and sister firefighters and the camaraderie," German said.

One individual award was given out during the weekend. The other curlers chose Shari Olsen from Fort Smith for the Les McPhee Award that recognizes sportsmanship.