You can't beat the luck of the Irish, especially when there's a trophy by the name of Kelly at the end of the rainbow.
Scott Sherba had first-year curler Damien Furlong, the son of an famous Irishman, tossing lead rocks for him in the 85th annual Kelly Cup men's bonspiel at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. But there wasn't much luck needed by the straight-shooting Sherba crew, who handily defeated Michael Dahms 8-3 in Sunday's final.
"We had Damien sprinkle some magic Irish dust out there and a few times we had to call on that," said the 42-year-old Sherba. "I've been in 26 Kelly Cups and it took me 23 of them (in 2008) to finally get my first one. The first one is always the sweetest because you're not sure if you're going to win one, but It's a pretty great feeling to win it again.
"Our team has been drawing well all weekend and that was a big strong suit for us. That sheet of ice was great. It was true and keen and that suits our style of play."
Furlong, 34, is the son of John Furlong, the CEO and chief organizer of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler/Vancouver. Apparently, Damien comes by his curling talent honestly.
"I didn't realize how big curling was until I started with these guys here," said Furlong. "I came out once last year with Doug Engstrom and I guess Scott saw a little bit of potential. I found out [Saturday] my dad has curled before when he was living up here, but when I was a kid I didn't know curling existed. I just never had an opportunity to play until now."
Chris Pallot played third for Sherba, while George Hackle was the second. Hackle shared in Sherba's first Kelly win in 2008. Bill Davidson filled in for Pallot in the first game of the Kelly round and helped them defeat Tobin Senum 9-4. In the Kelly semifinal round, Pallot was back to beat A-event winner Ron Vanderstar 8-4 in a Kelly semifinal.
"I've been the Kelly a few times but never won it and to have somebody with Scott's experience was fantastic," Pallot said. "He called a great game."
Sherba seized control early with a steal of three in the first end when Dahms missed his draw into the 12-foot. Sherba figured out right away the ice was a little quicker than it had been but Dahms, the 2010 Kelly Cup champion, had trouble and it showed when he sailed a few critical shots through the house.
Sherba followed up with one in the second, fourth and sixth ends and stole two more in the seventh when he forced Dahms to try an outside-in draw around cover that ended up heavy.
"They definitely had the ice figured out and they played a lot better than us early, which put us in a bit of a hole," said Dahms, whose team included third Chris Calder, second J.T. Blanchett and lead Vic LeBlanc. "Everything we left, Scott he made, so cudos to him. The ice was about a second-and-half faster than what it had been the previous eight games and we got fooled."
Sherba's only defeat on the weekend was a 10-6 loss to Bill Lim in the A event semifinal.
Dahms, the B event winner, got to the final with wins over Ray Blackmore of Quesnel and Lim.
Scott Horvath topped Brad Leroux of Smithers 8-5 in the C final, Garnet Boese best Darcy Tollefson 7-4 in the D final, and Fred May edged Bill Fisher 7-5 in the E final.
