There will be a new champion in the Original 16 Cash League.
KMS Construction’s Ben Gamble pulled off the upset of the season during the semifinals on Wednesday night at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre, battling to a 7-5 victory over BTN Chartered Accountant’s Penny Barker. The loss was the first of the season for the defending champions, and it came in dramatic fashion.
Barker got off to a great start, scoring three in the first end, but by the time the fifth end break rolled around, things were all tied up at three. Barker retook the lead with a pair in the sixth, but Gamble got all of that back and then some the next end with a three-spot of his own. Gamble then finished things off with a steal in the eighth for his two-point win.
Fifth-seeded KMS will take on second-seed Protec Studios and Tyler Krupski in the championship game after their 6-5 victory over John’s Music and Ryan Wenarchuk. And like the other semifinal, it took an impressive comeback and late-game surge to get the job done.
With the game tied 1-1 through two, Wenarchuk stole single points the next two ends for a 3-1 lead. Krupski tied the game 3-3 with a deuce in the fifth and Wenarchuk responded with two of his own in the sixth to retake the lead, but another Krupski two in the seventh made it a 5-5 game heading home. There, Krupski would get the steal to book his spot in the final.
Consolation action saw KalTire (Dustin Woloschuk) score four in the second end and go on to an 8-1 win over EMJ Marketing (Joe Gunnis), while Matt Froehlich built a 4-0 lead through three ends and would go on to a 6-3 victory over high school provincials-bound Dayne Heisler and R.K. Sunview Farms.
Pro-Tec Electric (Stan Barnsley) overcame a 5-4 deficit with points in the final two ends to take a 7-5 win over Pup’s Parlour (Jaedon Miller) and Fountain Tire (Barry Silk) scored four in the second on his way to a 7-2 win over Rod Montgomery.
The league championship final takes place on Wednesday, Mar. 15, with first rock at 7:30 p.m. from the Moose Jaw Curling Centre.
