SUMMERSIDE – Glenn Howard moved to 4-0 (won-lost) at the Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials curling event on Thursday.
Five teams, who all have two wins, are now chasing Howard in the seven-team Pool A.
Seven Mile Bay native Adam Casey, who is skipping a team from Regina, is one of them following a gutsy 9-8 victory over the John Morris rink from Vernon, B.C. Morris now joins Casey, Colton Flasch of Saskatoon and Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg, at 2-2 in the standings.
Adam Casey intently follows a shot during Thursday’s game against John Morris at the 2017 Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials curling event in Summerside. Casey pulled out a 9-8 win. – Eric McCarthy
Gunnlaugson had a chance to move into sole possession of second place in his game against Howard. He needed to just catch a piece of one Howard stone to set up a double for the win, but his shot sailed in between, allowing Howard to steal two points for an 8-5 win.
Against Morris, Casey gave up a three-ender in the first end, but the game was tied 4-4 after four ends thanks to even-end deuces.
After coming out of the fifth-end break trailing 5-4, Casey threw an out-turn hit with hammer in the sixth and scored three. He added a steal of one in the seventh before Morris staged a comeback, tying the game at 8-8 after nine ends.
A couple of runbacks by Casey’s third stone, Brock Montgomery, got him out of trouble in the 10th end and Casey hit an angle takeout off of his own stone to get rid of a Morris counter with his first shot. He didn’t have to throw hammer after Jim Cotter, who throws skip rocks for Morris, came up short on his attempt to bury behind Casey’s counter.