Defending champ Greg Balsdon earned a 7-3 victory over Rob Rumfeldt to improve to a 2-1 record at the Recharge with Milk Ontario Tankard in Dorchester, Ont.
Balsdon’s rink from Hamilton bounced back Tuesday night after falling 9-3 to Team Kean in the afternoon draw.
Team Rumfeldt opened with the hammer and blanked the first but Balsdon put on the pressure in the second lying two stones and forcing Rumfeldt to hit and stick for a single. Balsdon looked to have a deuce in the bank during the third but Rumfeldt nailed a double takeout with his final shot and Balsdon opted to blank the end. Balsdon’s final shot in four picked but his sweepers salvaged to get the one point to tie it.
Balsdon stole three to jump ahead 4-1 when Rumfeldt clipped a guard with his final shot in the fifth. Rumfeldt fell into trouble again in the seventh and gave up a steal of two extending Balsdon’s lead to 6-1.
Rumfeldt recovered to take two in the eighth but Balsdon drew to grab a piece of the button in the ninth for one and the teams shook hands.
Team Rumfeldt fell to a 1-3 record at the tournament.
Programming Alert: Watch Draw 5 of the Ontario Tankard live Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET on Rogers TV Sports+.
Elsewhere, Mark Kean (4-0) and his Fenelon Falls team continue to roll through the round-robin with a 9-4 victory over Aaron Squires (1-2) of Kitchener-Waterloo.
Squires earned a deuce in the second but Kean made the in-off with his final shot to count two in the third and even it up. Team Squires faced three counters but landed on the lid with last rock in the fourth to lead 3-2, but it was all Team Kean from there scoring two in the fourth, stealing a pair in five and three in six. Squires was held to one in the seventh and the teams shook hands.
Kean has won all four of his games in seven ends.
Ottawa’s Colin Dow climbed to a 3-1 record following an 8-3 win in eight ends against Toronto’s Peter Corner (2-2). Dow led 4-3 after the sixth and pulled away scoring three in the seventh and stealing one in the eighth.
Joe Frans of St. Thomas evened his record to 2-2 with an 8-3 win over Jon St. Denis of Listowel. Frans scored a deuce in the first, stole two in the second and continued to slide away earning another pair in six and swiping a point in seven. St. Denis dropped to 1-3 in the tournament.
Ottawa’s Ian MacAulay (2-1) completed the comeback holding off Cory Heggestad of Markdale 7-5. Heggestad (0-4) scored three in the second and was ahead 4-2 at the fifth-end break but MacAulay charged with a deuce in six and stole a pair in seven to take a two-point lead. MacAulay limited Heggestad to a single in the eighth and blanked the ninth to hold the hammer coming home where he picked up another point in the 10th.
Notes: Team Heggestad second Brandon Tippin returned after suffering an allergic reaction that forced him to miss Monday’s games. … John Epping and his Toronto-based team had the bye in Draw 4. They sit tied for third place in the standings with a 2-1 record. … The winner of the Recharge with Milk Tankard will represent Ontario at the Tim Hortons Brier, starting Feb. 28 in Calgary.
