The Winnipeg Sun from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • 13

THE WINNIPEG SUM Monday FebfuMryl0il986 13 By JIM BENDER sun Mm vmnr time in which you have a fairly good year which we did and it cornea down to within a game or two gamea of winning the Purple Hearts you a tart dreaming about what could happen" admitted John Allardyce aecond on the Kerry Burtnyk rink which just lost out again In the 19M Labatt Tankard at Winnipeg Arena yesterday afternoon when you lose ao abruptly a small period of time when you feel The Aasiniboine-Memorial foursome lost a broom-chewing 6-5 extra-end decision to Brian Pena ton of Fort Rouge in the B-side final The loss stopped Burt-nyk'a hopes of regaining the Manitoba title he has not held since 1961 when he ended up only two wins away from taking the Silver Broom as world champ made a couple of great shots in the ninth end there to get the three and that was the key to the analysed the disappointed Burtnyk were trying to force them to take one there but Brian made two spectacular shots not much you can do" Pension made a difficult raise takeout to bury two counters then drew in for three with last rock Although Burtnyk racked up a pair in the loth to force the extra end Pension won it with a cold last-rock draw It was another year of frustration for Burtnyk who had taken the Grand Aggregate in the MCA Bonspiei for the second straight year always disappointing when you lose we had a good run at it we took him (Penston) to last rock" said the 27-year-old played great you take anything away from him" Burtnyk said he would probably keep the same foursome with third Jeff Ryan and lead Don Harvey together next Sr now we're worried about getting this off our minds" Allardyce in his fourth year with Burtnyk said the breaks go their way Karry Burtnyk whava to watt Vlnaxtyaar a game of inches and the inches just with us today" He added that the tricky Arena ice played havoc after Burtnyk had fended off ail opposition on local chib sheets no doubt out always the Allardyce chuckled Burtnyk became the second top-rated rink Penston knocked off Penston downed Pembina's Mike Riley in the B-side semi-finals- to be in Arenas" offered the 30-year-old university student Now it's next-year country for the Burtnyk rink again next year and the year after And when those years run that club ice is nicer to play on and I think any curler would agree to that But this is a spectator spectacle entertainment and there's a lot of people who want to watch and for that reason it's got lead On the tenth end he removed a corner guard rather than go for one of Burtnyk's rocks in the house He was content to allow Burtnyk the opportunity to draw for a two and a tie I guess that's my theory The only way we could lose that way is if I miss or we miss enough as a team that I don't have a shot I can live with missing a shot chances of winning are so slim in this province that if I do get defeated I'd rather be defeated by my getting outplayed than by being Slim indeed Only three skips have ever managed to repeat their triumphs Don Duguid is the last skip to win successive curling championships in this province in 1970 and 1971 Even more to the point the last skip to play in successive finals Somewhat ironically Dale Duguid the son of Don and a former skip himself is paying third for Penston this year Marc Montanti is his second and Scott Mundle his lead Prior to The Digit one must go back to the great Ken Watson who won in 1942 and '43 then way back to Gordon Hudson who was victorious in 1928 and 29 Bruce Hudson played in lour consecutive Manitoba finals He won in 1964 and 1967 and lost in 1965 and '66 Last night marked the first time Penston had advanced to the Manitoba final although he has been a semi-final loser on two occasions always been around usually very dose but just never quite there been in five of the last six provincial paydowns and this Tankard marks his ninth appearance in the past 12 Fellow carters call him The Senator Quietly confident hen diplomatic extremely capable of handling stressful situations with aplomb and well-liked by his peers Unfortunately Ms somewhat dour demeanor (just like a politician?) on the ice leads most spectators to regard him as tbs bad guy Invariably the majority of fans root for his opposition An intense (explosive?) competitor in his younjpr days 33-year-old Brian Penston has mellowed considerably in recent seasons Fttr Pension patience is now the key He strictly adheres to a very definite theory on how to approach curling like to believe whether right or not that we can outplay the Penston said yesterday after demonstrating his on-ice expertise to the I9M Manitoba Labatt Tankard crowd at Winnipeg Arena want to lose on a circus shot or a 20-foot raise takeout or something like that so we want to reduce the number of rocks in pay "We're patient and we wait for opportunities on third and skip racks The risk the personal embarrassment risk I guess you could say is that if it doesn't work then people will say you're too patient But I guess you have to live and die with whatever theory you And just what is his theory on curling? want to play a strategy that I can live with not winning I would rather 'lose by missing a shot than lose when the other guy made one he wasn't even playing It sounds kind of weird I guess but that's Brian Paneton In semi-final against Kerry Burtnyk for instance Penston scored a three on the ninth end to take a 5-3.