Tyler Orme has reached the double knockout playoff stage at the 2023 Everest Canadian Curling Club Championship in Winnipeg.
Orme, and his B.C. champion teammates Trevor Perepolkin at third, Rob Nobert at second and Jamie Austin at lead, all from the Vernon Curling Club, closed out the preliminary round Thursday morning, Nov. 23, with a 7-2 win over Terry Miller of Whitehorse.
The Orme foursome finished the preliminary round at 4-2, tied for top spot in Pool B with Saskatchewan’s Mitch Criton of Regina, and Derek Anderson of Gimli, Man. Quebec’s David Maheux of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville grabbed the final Pool B playoff spot at 3-3.
Orme opens the double knockout Thursday afternoon against Shea Steele of Halifax (4-2). Alberta’s Dan Sherrard of Beaumont takes a perfect 6-0 mark into the playoffs. Ontario and New Brunswick nabbed the other two spots out of Pool A.
The winner of Orme-Steele will face the winner of a game between Criton and Dan Crouse of Moncton in an A side semifinal Friday morning. Losers drop to the B side, one loss away from elimination.
The B.C. champs opened the 14-team national championship with a 9-8 loss to Peter Van Strien of Nunavut, who scored three in the final end with hammer.
Orme then defeated Maheux 7-4, and Darren Higgins of Summerside, PEI 4-3 before falling 7-2 to Criton. The Vernon rink got back to its winning ways with a 7-3 win over Anderson.
On the women’s side, B.C.’s Carley Sandwith-Craig of Duncan sits atop Pool A at 5-0 heading into their final preliminary round game Thursday.
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