Morning Star Staff
Vernon’s Jim Cotter got off to a sluggish start at The National men’s bonspiel Thursday in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.
Cotter, who curls with third Jason (Gunner) Gunnlaugson and front-enders Ty Griffith and Rick Sawatsky, ended the day early after falling 9-1 to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.’s Brad Jacobs in just four ends.
The Okanagan foursome, now 0-2, was forced into early handshakes after giving up four-enders in one and four.
Cotter opened the 18-team, $100,000 spiel Thursday morning with a 5-2 loss to Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz.
The Vernon skip started with the hammer, but gave up two single steals, along with a double in five to trail 4-0 after six ends. He finally cracked a deuce in seven, but de Cruz sealed the win with a single in eight.
The Cotter crew faces Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen this morning (5 a.m. PT), Innerkip, Ont.’s Mark Kean at 8:30 a.m. and ends the round-robin against Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton at 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, with Aron Herrick subbing for Cotter, Woodland Equipment grounded Sherry Heath’s De Vine Vintners 5-2 in Baron Insurance Super League play Wednesday night at the Vernon Curling Club.
After winning a rare coin toss, Woodland, now 10-4, scored two with an in-turn takeout. Skip Sandra Jenkins came back with a tight double for one in three for the 2-13 Vintners.
Herrick used some solid lead stones by sub Darin Halloran to pull ahead with consecutive singles in four, five and six, and Jenkins counted one in seven before conceding.
Mark Longworth’s Sladen Moore started slow, but finished strong in a 6-4 win over Robbi Kuhn’s North Enderby Timber.
Fresh off an appearance at women’s provincials, Kuhn (6-9) burgled three points over the first two ends. Longworth (8-7) coolly drew the four-foot in the third end to cut the lead to two.
NET took another single in four, but Sladen drew even with three straight singles in five, six and seven, and iced the game with a deuce in a junked-up final end.
Dave Merklinger’s Canwest Propane sealed first place at 11-3 with a 7-2 win over Darrell (Heavy D) Houston’s Nufloors.
A steal of one in the second end, followed by two more stolen points in three put Canwest in firm control. Houston (7-8) counted singles in four and six, but gave up deuces in five and seven.
