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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 24, 2005
Fenson secures No. 1 playoff seed at U.S.
Olympic Trials
(MADISON, Wis.) – The Pete Fenson rink secured the No. 1
seed in the men’s division by defeating 2004 national
champion Jason Larway team 6-4 Thursday afternoon at the
2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling at the Madison
Curling Club.
Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) and teammates Shawn Rojeski
(Virginia, Minn.), Joe Polo (Cass Lake, Minn.) and John
Shuster (Chisholm, Minn.) stole singles in the eighth
and ninth ends to pull ahead for good after a slow
start.
“It was the goal for the week to win the round robin,”
said Pete Fenson, who owns Dave’s Pizza in Bemidji. “We
got room for improvement and need to get it in the next
gear. Physically we are prepared as we need to be but
mentally we need to stay focused and come out ready to
play.”
Team Fenson will play the No. 2 seed, which will be
determined after games are played to determine the
second-through fourth-seed rankings. Using the page
playoff system, the #1 and #2 seeds play in the first
semifinal at 2 p.m. Friday, with the winner advancing to
the final and the loser playing the winner of a
semifinal between the #3 and #4 seeds to determine the
second finalist. The Scott Baird, Brady Clark and Craig
Brown rinks each finished with 6-3 records.
The Bemidji-based Baird rink advanced to the semifinals
on the last rock in its match against Rich Ruohonen’s
Minneapolis team. Leading 5-4 going into the 10th
end, vice skip Eric Fenson, throwing last rocks, missed
a takeout on Ruohonen’s count rock. Ruohonen then
chipped out the Baird rock but rolled out leaving his
rock exposed. Fenson was able to take it out and stay in
the four-foot just inches closer to the button than
Ruohonen’s.
“It was a tight game and we both wanted it,” Eric Fenson
said. “We got our bad game out of the way last night and
came out refreshed today. When it gets to be six, seven
days it gets hard even though we’re used to it. We just
need to stay focused.”
The Baird rink will receive the first bye in the
tiebreaker by virtue of having the best shootout score,
which is used to determine team rankings for
tiebreakers. Clark and Brown, who just completed a game
against one another with Clark winning 10-4, will turn
around and play each other again at 4 today. The winner
advances to play Baird at 8 p.m. while the loser will be
ranked No. 4 for tomorrow’s semifinals.
Craig Disher’s North Dakota rink defeated the Ben Tucker
team, 9-2, and then waited to see if they’d play another
game. However, Clark’s 10-4 victory over Brown
eliminated the team’s chances.
“It’s tough having the fate of your team in someone
else’s hands,” said Joel Jacobson of the Disher rink.
The Greg Eigner rink got its third win of the
competition by defeating Wes Johnson, 6-2. Despite the
team’s record, the Eigner rink played well this week
with the majority of its games coming down to the last
rock.
The semifinals are at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday, with the
women’s final at 10 a.m. Saturday and the men’s at 2
p.m. Saturday. Live action of the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team
Trials for Curling can be followed on the USA Curling
web site at
www.usacurl.org, including via an audiocast and
end-by-end scoring.
USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics and
AmerAust Technologies as well as by General Motors,
Chevron-Texaco and Bank of America through a joint
marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Game scores: Clark 10, Brown 4; Eigner 6, W.
Johnson 2; Fenson 6, Larway 4; Disher 9, Tucker 2; Baird
6, Ruohonen 4
Men’s standings
Fenson 7-2
Baird 6-3
Brown 6-3
Clark 6-3
Disher 5-4
Ruohonen 5-4
Eigner 3-6
Larway 3-6
Tucker 3-6
Johnson 1-8
Men’s semifinalists:
Team Fenson: Pete Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), Shawn
Rojeski (Virginia, Minn.), Joe Polo (Cass Lake, Minn.),
John Shuster (Chisholm, Minn.)
Team Baird: Scott Baird, Eric Fenson, Mark
Haluptzok, Tim Johnson (all of Bemidji)
Team Brown: Craig Brown (Madison, Wis.), Matt
Stevens (Bemidji, Minn.), John Dunlop (Wauwatosa, Wis.),
Bob Liapis (Bemidji), Cody Stevens (Bemidji)
Team Clark: Brady Clark (Redmond, Wash.), Greg
Persinger (Anchorage, Alaska), Colin Hufman (Lynnwood,
Wash.), Ken Trask (Kirkland, Wash.), Doug Kauffman
(Lynnwood, Wash.)
(30)
For more information: Rick Patzke, USA Curling,
rickp@curlingrocks.net, 715-344-1199 |
