The West Fraser Centre played host to four Women’s curling matches and one Men’s on Thursday (Jan 31) night.
As the tournament has gotten down to the nitty-gritty, teams have become used to the playing surface and each shot counts for that little bit more.
Noise in the arena was at its loudest; cow bells could be heard ringing thunderously and a vuvuzela horn echoed from wall-to-wall.
Abbotsford’s Team Wark did not become distracted by the pressure or the hubbub however, as they squeaked out an 8-6 victory over a game Thompson squad.
Trailing their Kamloops opponents by one entering the tenth end, Team Wark scored three to take a decisive win and improve their record in the tournament so far to 5-1.
Team Thompson drop to 1-3.
Last year’s provincial champs, Team Van Osch took a step in the right direction by besting Vernon’s Team Slattery 8-5.
Double-score ends in the third, fifth and ninth propelled the Nanaimo/ Parksville/ Vancouver team to the win, which improves their record to 2-3.
Team Slattery, who started off the tournament with a strong victory over Team Gushulak have dropped four in a row and sit at 1-4.
Royal City’s Team Gushulak has turned their play around significantly, beating Kelowna/Victoria/ Prince George’s Team Richards 7-6.
The win is Team Gushulaks third in a row after dropping their first two.
Despite building a 5-2 lead after six ends, Team Richards was not able to hold on to it down the stretch.
They drop to 3-2.
A key steal by Team Gushulak in the eighth end was the turning point.
Also in women’s action, Kamloops/ Royal City’s Team Brown improved to 3-2 with a 7-6 win over Vancouver’s Team Hudyma.
It was another close one, which needed 11 ends to decide a winner.
Team Hudyma now sit at 2-3 for the tournament.
The only Men’s match for the draw saw Langley/ Royal City/ Kamloops’s Team Wenzek take a dominant victory over an outmatched Team Eden from Kelowna.
Team Wenzek scored two in the second, fourth and eighth as well as three in the fifth to set a pace that Team Eden couldn’t keep up with.
READ MORE: Draw 8 highlights
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