Boutilier, Ronaldson rinks qualify for N.S. senior men’s

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

A pair of Valley teams will be part of the field when the provincial senior men’s curling championship kicks off next Wednesday in Liverpool.

Rinks skipped by Brian Boutilier of Wolfville and Dave Ronaldson representing 14 Wing Greenwood punched their tickets to provincials by advancing from the South Zone qualifier played Feb. 1-3 in Digby.

Both the Boutilier and Ronaldson teams advanced from the B section, going through the three-day competition with just one loss.

Boutilier and his teammates Ian Stewart, Jim Irving and Arnold Forsythe and alternate Sterling Bishop scored a 7-4 win over Albert Smart of Liverpool in the opening draw.

After dropping an 8-4 decision to Brian Rafuse of Bridgewater in their second match to fall to the B draw, the Boutilier rink defeated Arthur O’Connell of Barrington 8-2 then qualified with an 11-9 win over Greg Thorbourne of Liverpool.

Ronaldson and his teammates Tony Stirling, Gerry Winters and Jerry Moulton saw their first action in the second draw and got off to a good start, scoring a 9-4 win over Jack Robar of Mayflower.

The win advanced Ronaldson to a meeting with Rafuse in one of two A draw finals. Rafuse scored a narrow 9-7 victory, but it would be the Ronaldson’s team’s last loss.

The Greenwood rink advanced directly to one of three B draw finals and made the best of the opportunity, qualifying with a 10-4 victory over Graham Harris of Mayflower.

Rafuse (with Curt Palmer of Coldbrook playing third) and Peter Corkum qualified from the A draw after both going undefeated in the competition.

Robar joined Boutilier and Ronaldson in qualifying from the B draw. Harris, Thorbourne and Milt Larsen of Mayflower qualified from the C draw.

The eight South Zone qualifiers will be joined at provincials by eight teams that qualified from the North Zone, with a berth at nationals on the line for the winner. Ronaldson is seeded fourth in the provincial competition, while Boutilier is the twelfth seed.

Meanwhile, 13 women’s teams from around the province start play Thursday at the provincial senior women’s championship at the Glooscap Curling Club in Kentville.

Carol Romkey from Middleton and Yvonne Martin of the host club are the Valley skips in the women’s event, which gets underway with the opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m. Thursday followed by the opening draw at 8.

Play continues all weekend, with the championship games set for the following Tuesday.