Jim Cotter and Rick Sawatsky are now in select curling company.
The longtime Vernon teammates won their seventh provincial men’s championship Sunday, when their Okanagan-Alberta-Vancouver Island rink – which includes skip John Morris of Chestermere, Alta., second Tyrel Griffith of Kelowna and coach Jody Epp of Victoria – defeated Dean Joanisse of Maple Ridge 6-3 in the belairdirect provincial final in Abbotsford.
Cotter and Sawatsky tied the mark for the most purple hearts ever by B.C. men’s curlers.
Vancouver’s Bernie Sparkes and Reg and Roy Stone, of Trail, also have seven provincial wins.
Sawatsky, who grew up watching Sparkes, is humbled by the recognition.
“That’s someone we really looked up to growing up as kids so it’s really cool to be in the same company as him,” said Sawatsky, who plays lead.
For Griffith, a former B.C. junior champ, this was his fifth provincial title since joining the Cotter rink in 2012.
Epp has never won a provincial title in 26 years of competitive curling.
The B.C. champs, who went 5-0 in Abbotsford, now advance to the Tim Hortons Brier next month in St. John’s NL, where they will face a very familiar foe in the opening draw March 4 at Mile One Centre.
Morris will play Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, which is a rematch of the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings gold-medal final, won by Jacobs, who went on to win Olympic gold in Sochi.
Morris – who will be appearing in his fifth straight Brier and 10th overall – lost the 2014 Brier final with Cotter, Griffith and Sawatsky to Kevin Koe of Alberta. Koe, the defending champ, will play as Team Canada in St. John’s.
Said Morris: “We’re going to enjoy tonight and then get back into training. We’re looking forward to St John’s, we want to bring back a title for BC.”
Cotter said although he has been to the Brier six times previously, the ultimate goal remains unfulfilled.
“It was always my goal to go to the Brier and win the Brier, so that will be our focus this year,” Cotter said.
The B.C.-Northern Ontario match, though, may be an afterthought in the Brier’s opening draw, as most eyes will be on hometown favourite Brad Gushue as his Newfoundland/Labrador side takes on Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher.
Bottcher, the 2012 Canadian and World Junior men’s champion, won his first Alberta title on Sunday at Westlock, beating Ted Appelman 6-5 in an extra end in an all-Edmonton championship game.
Bottcher and his teammate will be Tim Hortons Brier rookies. Their coach, however, is anything but: four-time Canadian champion, 12-time Alberta champion and 2010 Olympic gold-medallist Kevin Martin.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, meanwhile, defended his Manitoba title in dramatic fashion on Sunday. Battling fellow Winnipeg powerhouse Reid Carruthers, McEwen made a double-takeout to score four in the eighth end and sailed home for an 8-7 win in the final in Portage la Prairie.
McEwen will be up against Saskatchewan’s Adam Casey in the opening draw.
There was also a repeat winner at the New Brunswick championship Sunday in Saint John as Fredericton’s Mike Kennedy defended his title with a 7-4 win over Saint John’s Charlie Sullivan. Kennedy, who’ll be making his sixth Brier appearance, won the Canadian senior men’s title in 2013 throwing fourth stones for Wayne Tallon’s team, which went on to win gold at the 2014 World Senior Championships.
The rest of the field includes Team Canada (Glencoe Club, Calgary) — Kevin Koe; Ontario (St. George’s Golf and Country Club, Etobicoke) — Glenn Howard; Quebec (Etchemin CC, Lévis) — Jean-Michel Ménard; Nova Scotia (Halifax CC) — Jamie Murphy; Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown CC) — Eddie MacKenzie; Northwest Territories (Yellowknife CC) — Jamie Koe; Yukon (Whitehorse CC) — Craig Kochan; Nunavut (Iqaluit CC) — Jim Nix.
