Fisher wins fourth Kelly Cup

Bill Fisher comes out of the hack to release a rock during the Kelly Cup final on Sunday at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Fisher downed Scott Sherba to win his fourth Kelly Cup. Allan WISHART/Free Press

Bill Fisher picked up the grand slam of Kelly Cups on Sunday – but he’s still chasing one of his teammates.

“This was my fourth Kelly Cup,” Fisher said after downing Scott Sherba 6-3 in the final. “It’s the fifth for Rick Fewster, who was playing third for me this weekend, though.”

For both second Lyle Hensrud, who was picked up as a fill-in at second, and lead Wayne Colliss, it was their second time to hoist the big trophy.

“We were expecting a close game,” Fisher said. “We play Scott a lot. We’re all great friends. I’ve actually curled with all the guys on Scott’s team at one time or another, so it’s kind of bittersweet.

“You don’t like to see your friends lose, but winning is great.”

The final was a chess match as Sherba scored a single point in the first before Fisher blanked the next two.

That strategy didn’t work the way he hoped, as Sherba stole a point in the fourth for a 2-0 lead before Fisher got on the board with a single in the fifth before stealing one himself in the sixth to tie the score.

After a measurement showed a Fisher rock was just out of the rings to blank the seventh, Sherba scored one in the eighth to retake the lead.

Sherba and his rink made some clutch shots in the ninth to score two for a 4-3 lead, bringing the Kelly Cup to the final end, with Sherba down one with the hammer.

The house and the front got congested by the time the skips got to their shots. Fisher made a perfect tap-back on a Sherba rock on the button, then repeated that with his final rock to lie two, virtually buried.

Sherba tried for an angle takeout, but just the angled rock just missed the rocks on the button, giving Fisher two more and the 6-3 win.

“I gave him the hardest shot I could,” Fisher said of the final few rocks. “It was there, but I figured the best he could do was score one to tie and we’d got to an extra end.”

At 61, Fisher admits he wasn’t sure he would win another Kelly Cup.

“I won in 2012 when I was 58, but I wasn’t sure I could win one in my 60s.”

He admits both he and Fewster were sneaking looks over to the finals of the Ladies Bonspiel, with the Alyssa Connell rink in action.

“Rick’s their coach in junior, and I coach the boys’ team, so I know all the girls on the team. I was glad they won.”