For the first time in nearly two decades, Keith Ryan will be skipping a team representing Newfoundland and Labrador at a major national curling championship, this after he and his rink out of the Carol Club in Labrador City defeated and Alex Smith’s foursome 3-1 in Sunday’s provincial senior men’s final at the Re/Max Centre in St. John’s.
Ryan and his team of Mike Ryan, Barry Edwards and Dennis Langdon will wear provincial colours at the 2020 Everest Canadian senior championships March 16-22 in Portage la Prairie, Man.
It will the first time Keith Ryan will have competed in a top-level national event since the 2005 Brier men’s competition, when he was the second for Brad Gushue’s N.L. rink, and his first as skip since heading the province’’s entry at the 2001 Brier with a team that also included Mike Ryan and Langdon.
He’s headed to Portage la Prairie after a dominant week at the Re/Max Centre, where he and his team went finished first in the nine-team preliminary round-robin with a 7-1 record, sending them directly to Sunday’s final. Overall, they outscored their opponents 54-19 in preliminary play.
Smith, who curls out of the Re/Max Centre, and defending champion Gary Oke of Corner Brook tied for second in the round-robin with 6-2 record, sending them to Saturday’s semifinal game, where Smith came away with a 6-4 decision.
Sunday’s final was a defensive, strategic contest, with Ryan opening the scoring wit a single point in the second end and Smith maintaining last-rock advantage through five consecutive blank ends until the eighth when he, too, registered a single. One more blank end and the game concluded in the 10th as Ryan scored two points with the hammer.
While Keith Ryan has never competed at a national senior championship, his team does have experience at the competition. Mike Ryan skipped Newfoundland and Labrador’s team at the 2018 Canadian seniors with a lineup that included Edwards.
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