Salmon Arm’s Paul Cseke, who threw third rocks for Dean Joanisse, missed his chance at a Brier appearance by a stone Sunday.
Vernon’s Jim Cotter calmly drew to the button with the last rock in the 11th end Sunday to beat Joanisse of New Westminster 7-6 and capture a second straight Canadian Direct Insurance B.C. Men’s Curling Championship, this one in front of a boisterous, bell-ringing, hand-clapping, partisan crowd at the Vernon Curling Club.
Cseke, joining a front end of Jay Wakefield and John Cullen, was cheered on in the final by his parents, Frank and Wendy, and about 20 to 30 friends, who were dubbed the Joanisse Police by the skip himself.
“The name is funny because I just turned to them and said ‘Are you the Joanisse Police?,” explained Joanisse. “It just came to me then, and then they started writing signs. The fans that were here, most of them are from the area and Jim’s from the club so whenever we made shots against them earlier in the week it was like crickets out here, pretty quiet.
“To have them (Joanisse Police) made it so much more fun. We were going to have a lot of fun out here today anyway. It really made it very neat and special. It’s a big part of my memory of that final game.”
Joanisse won in 2001 and 2007, but lost the 2002 final to Kelowna’s Pat Ryan, now the coach of Cotter’s squad. The 2002 Tim Hortons Brier was also held in Calgary.
“Whenever the Brier’s in Calgary, we don’t have a chance, and the two that we won had a nicer finish to them,” joked a gracious Joanisse after the trophy presentation.
Facing two Joanisse stones in the extra end, Cotter took a little more time in the hack, delivered his rock and turned things over to sweepers Sawatsky and Tyrel Griffith of Kelowna, who followed the call of third Ryan Kuhn to bring the decisive stone directly to the button in the house.
The two rinks were the top qualifiers with Cotter going undefeated to win the A event, and Joanisse captured the B side, dropping down after a 10-9 loss to Cotter Friday.
Joanisse got a bye to the final while Cotter needed a near carbon-copy 7-6, 11-end win over New West’s Brent Pierce in Saturday night’s semifinal.
After blanking the opening end, Joanisse was forced into a draw for only one in the second to take an early 1-0 lead. The teams traded deuces and Cotter hit and rolled into the house to score a pair with his final rock of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead into the break.
Cotter upped the lead to 5-3 in the sixth with a steal of one after Joanisse‘s final stone slid a bit too far in the house. After blanking the seventh, Joanisse picked up a deuce with the hammer in the eighth to tie the contest. Cotter could only manage a single with the hammer in the ninth, but managed to hold the Royal City Curling Club squad to one point in the 10th, forcing the extra end.
It was memorable for Cseke.
“It was an amazing run. I’m really proud of the guys. We played so well. It came down to last rock so what more could you ask for? The fans that came from Salmon Arm really gave us an extra boost.”
