SUDBURY—Robbie Gordon, who has family ties to Manitoulin Island, and his Sudbury-based curling rink have qualified for the All-Canadian Masters curling championship this spring. However, Mr. Gordon did not take part when the rink qualified for the national championships at the Northern Ontario Masters (60+) men’s provincial playdowns held at the Espanola Curling Club in January.
“Good on them, they played really well,” stated Mr. Gordon, who explained on the same weekend as the rest of his team was winning the Northern Ontario Masters championship, “I was at a wedding in Cambridge. The guys texted me Saturday night explaining that the final game would be played (in Espanola) the next afternoon, that they had won all their games so far and that the ice was great. I thought about travelling up to Espanola for the final but decided against it. And it ended up it only took the team six ends in the final to win the final game.”
Mr. Gordon pointed out in recent years rinks playing with only three players, instead of the normal four, “is not as uncommon as it used to be. The Brad Gushue rink did it at the Brier with only three players.”
With Mr. Gordon’s absence the rink, which included Ron Henderson as skip and lead, Doug Hong as second and Dion Dumontelle as vice, was one of four teams who competed in the double round-robin in the Northern championships. Other rinks included the Carr rink from the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay, the Harnden rink from the Soo Curlers in Sault Ste. Marie and the Duhaime rink from the Capreol Curling Club. The Gordon rink was representing the Northern Credit Union Community Centre in Sudbury.
The Gordon rink had an undefeated record going into the final game, where they defeated the Carr rink 7-1. The game ended in the sixth end with the Carr rink shaking hands with the winners. With only three players on the team, two of the three players had to take an extra shot in each round.
The Robbie Gordon rink has played together for about 12 years. He has family on the Island. His grandparents were Ron and Lizzie Gordon, who ran Gordon’s Lodge in Gore Bay for many years. Mr. Gordon spent many of his summers as a youngster in Gore Bay.
“The national men’s master’s competition is being held from April 2-9,” Mr. Gordon told The Expositor. “The only problem with that is it is the same time as the provincial (Ontario) seniors’ championships (which the Gordon rink has taken part in four times) are taking place. “But I guess having our team compete in a national event like the Masters for the first time is okay.”
