The last shot in the A final of the 3 Son’s Tire & Auto Centre Men’s Bonspiel ended the long, drawn-out affair at St. Albert Curling Club.
Clint Hoffart’s draw down the left side of the centre line for the game-tying point was looking good before Doug Marks, third for the Gary Greening rink, muscled it past the shot rock by the slimmest of margins.
“All they gave me was the draw and I was just half an inch too heavy,” said Hoffart, skip for the Daub rink from Spruce Grove, after the 6-4 loss Sunday.
Greening was gunning for the steal in the last end after counting one in seven.
“You can’t defend too much so we had one in the top eight foot and we kind of guarded the heck out of it. We got a little miss so we forced him to draw against a couple and it was just maybe a half to three-quarters of an inch too far,” said Greening, noting Marks “put in the work” with enthusiastic brushing once the rock crossed the tee line. “He’s a strong guy.”
In a game that needed a time clock – Christmas had come and gone before the rinks barely avoided an extra end – there were more deliberations over shots than actual takeouts made throughout the finesse style of curling as both teams were limited to one deuce apiece.
“The objective is when you get the hammer you want to try and get two and when you’re trying to steal you’re either just trying to limit them to one or get one so that made it a close game,” Hoffart said. “We had a couple of misses both ways, back and forth, but overall it was well played by both teams.”
Greening stole the opening point (“It switched things around and gave us the hammer advantage”) and in two Hoffart escaped with one by bumping a rock into the rings as the counter and his opponent poised to score a big end.
A hit and stick for “a good deuce” by Greening in three was matched by Hoffart in four with a double takeout to knot it at three.
“When we took the two back I think they were lying four at one point so for us to come in there and get a couple was good,” Hoffart said.
In the fifth end, Marks knocked around a bunch of stones clumped together in the rings behind a centre-line guard that left Hoffart with shot rock. Greening finished off the end with a hit and stick to regain the lead.
In the next end, Marks continued to move rocks around in the house for openings but with the hammer Hoffart got a piece of the shot rock to avoid another Greening steal to pull even at four.
Greening was poised to ice the win in seven after Marks slotted a delivery into the rings to make it three counters but the team’s first skip rock bumped a guard back onto a stone to give Hoffart shot rock.
Instead of a possible four-ender, Greening was aiming for a hit and stick for two with last shot but it rolled a tad too much.
“We should've had a bundle and I missed my first one but one up (coming home) is OK,” Greening said.
The 18-rink bonspiel marked the first time Greening, Marks and lead Lance Dealy curled together with Craig Koch of Strathmore this season in preparation for the senior (50-plus) playdowns.
“We wanted to get some games in and practice and we couldn’t have asked for any more with the five games we got. It was good,” said Greening of polishing off Saville, Gansauge and Ferbey (Cody, not Randy) before the extra-end decision in the semifinals against Randy Guidinger. “In this game there were lots of mistakes on both sides. I didn’t think it was our best game but it was a hard-fought battle and that’s what we were looking for this weekend.”
Greening, who hails from Parkland County, curled on the Mark Johnson rink at the 2018 senior provincials with Marks and Dealy, as well as the masters (60-plus) provincials with Dale Briske, second Rick Dallyn, lead Doug de Bruijn and alternate Grant Cook.
Greening was also on the Briske rink that won the 2018 Presidents Cup playoff championship in St. Albert and finished second at the Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions.
Hoffart’s bonspiel rink consisted of third Sheldon Roose, second Bill Daub and lead Gary Martz and the veteran lineup slide past McKague, Haggith and Russell for a berth in the final.
