Ontario's Turkey

Sorry to be a bit Ontario-centric today, but with the Regional playdowns complete, most of the field for the Ontario final is complete. Two spots remain through Challenge Rounds, events, which I think are past their expiry date, as you can read in this previous post.
The usual suspects have managed to make it to the TSC Stores Ontario final (I’ve still yet to be in a TSC Store although I did see one while driving somewhere on the weekend). Glenn Howard got a bye for winning the Tim Hortons Brier last year and he’ll be the favourite, no doubt.
Wayne Middaugh had to take a longer route than planned, getting in through the B-side. What’s really the amazing story for me was Bob Turcotte, who knocked off Middaugh in the A-final to earn a berth in Waterloo. Bob, I believe is 96 years old. Or maybe it just seems like that. Consider this – last time he played in the Brier, it was sponsored by Macdonald Tobacco. Yup, he played in the last Brier that didn’t have a playoff, back in 1979. Thing is, he’s remained competitive through all the years.
Back when I was still actually throwing rocks in anger, we played him in the final of the Bacardi and managed to beat him. And that was a long time ago, I thought.
But this year, Turcotte represented Ontario in the Canadian mixed and lost in the final. He’s already been a Canadian champion several times over, winning the 1996, ‘97 and 2000 national senior crown.
Now he’s going back to the provincial men’s final. What a year for Turkey.
Back to the field. Peter Corner is there and with a relatively “experienced” team of John Base, Phil Loevenmark and Paul Moffatt. They could threaten if they get on a roll and Base’s knee holds up.
The rest of the field is made up of less experienced teams which could threaten but it would certainly be an upset if they won – not that there haven’t been upsets at the Ontario finals and the Brier over the years.