Burnside -
Joe Baker of the GT Hackers says all his team needed to rise through the Burnside Curling League playoffs and pull out an upset to take the late league title was a little inspiration.
"Your comments in the Burnside News about Maritime Coffee and The Rockettes running away with the league and heading for a showdown in the playoffs inspired our team to win it all," Baker says, referring to earlier coverage in The Burnside News about the dominance showed by those two teams during the regular season.
Finishing atop the standings, Maritime Coffee and The Rockettes had an easy first round in the playoffs, with both of the bottom teams - the Ice Capades and C.H.A.O.S. - forfeiting at the last minute.
The GT Hackers had a bit tougher test. Although the team was able to get out to an early lead on its first round opponents, Stanley Security battled back and the Hackers had to hold on to secure a 4-3 win.
That set up a semi-final showdown with The Rockettes, which finished the regular season in second place overall.
On the other side of the draw, The Hacks defeated The Weathermen in the first round to face off against the top seeded Maritime Coffee in the other semi.
The GT Hackers employed a similar strategy against The Rockettes as the team did in the first round, jumping out to an early lead by stealing six points in the first three ends. However, there was no comeback this time and the Hackers advanced to the championship game with a 6-0 victory.
In the finals the team face number one seed Maritime Coffee, who got by The Hacks in the other semi.
The final, due to time restraints, took the form of a two-end sudden death championship. Maritime Coffee took first blood, stealing a single point in the first end. Down by one, the GT Hackers made fine use of the hammer in the final end to draw to the eight-foot and score two points to capture the title.
In the consolation final, The Weathermen defeated Stanley Security to capture third place.
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