Huzzahs For Hritzuk!

If you have any sense of what is right and good, you should be happy for Eugene Hritzuk.
It took 20 years, but the Saskatchewan skip is finally a Canadian curling champion. Hritzuk, with support from Kevin Kalthoff, Verne Anderson and Dave Folk won the 2008 Canadian Senior Men's Curling Championship this past weekend. The boys from the Wheat Province finished the round robin with a 9-2 record, which earned them a semi-final berth against Brian Rafuse and his Brier vets from Nova Scotia. Hritzuk and company used the hammer in the tenth end to full advantage in claiming their 6-5 victory.
So it was on to the final of a national curling championship. Great news, right? Well for anyone not named Eugene Hritzuk it would be fantastic news. Unfortunately for Hritzuk, there were probably mixed emotions arising after the semi-final win.
The year was 1988 and the setting was the Chicoutimi-Jonquiere Labatt Brier. After spanking Paul Savage's Ontario contingent 6-1 in that year's semi-final, Hritzuk was well on his way to claiming the 59th Brier crown against Alberta's Pat Ryan in the final when the wheels fell off. Leading 7-5 playing the tenth end, Hritzuk's fortunes turned and before you could say Moosomin, Ryan counted three and had earned his ticket to Lauzanne, Switzerland and the World Championships. It was a heart breaker for Hritzuk, who was never able to make it back to the national men's shootout.
Sunday's final against New Brunswick's Russ Howard gave Hritzuk the opportunity to vanquish a number of ghosts and he rose to the occasion in fine fashion. Howard and his mates Wayne Tallon, Mike Flannery and Martin Mockler dug themselves a bit of a hole early, but tied things up at 4 apiece after six ends. Hritzuk took a deuce in the seventh and forced Howard to a single in the eighth before the ninth was blanked. One up coming home with the hammer.
Saskatchewan scored the single in the tenth and secured the 7-5 win.
Eugene, the Canadian curling community couldn't be happier for you!