If Jim Cotter can repeat what he did Wednesday night at the Vernon Curling Club, he will be a happy man at the Tim Hortons Brier in Saskatoon.
Cotter’s Woodland Equipment advanced to the championship game of the Baron Insurance Super League after shutting down Brad Wood’s Nufloors 8-4 in the semifinals.
Wood came out strong, with Darren Nelson, throwing skip’s stones, making a quiet hit to score two in the first end. Cotter, who left for Saskatoon Thursday, replied with a deuce in two.
The two rinks swapped singles in three, four and five before Cotter cracked a five-ender in six to put the game away. A missed run-back attempt by Nufloors left Cotter laying three, after which the Woodland skip piled two more stones into the house to force handshakes.
Cotter, who curls with a different crew at the Brier (third Kevin Folk, second Ty Griffith and lead Rick Sawatsky) opens play Saturday night on the Prairies against Calgary’s Kevin Koe.
On Sunday, the B.C. champs face Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy and Saskatchewan’s Scott Manner.
This well be the third Brier appearance for Cotter, Folk and Sawatsky, and Griffith’s first.
Meanwhile, in the other Baron semi Wednesday night, Robbi Kuhn’s North Enderby Timber showed some nice draw weight in stopping Dave Merklinger’s Canwest Propane 6-3.
Facing multiple Canwest stones, Kuhn calmly drew for singles in one and three.
Canwest skip Darren Heath had a great chance for three in the fourth end, but his angle-raise takeout didn’t curl enough, allowing NET to steal one.
Kuhn burgled two more points in five after Heath’s final draw came up light, and put the game away with a single in seven.
The Super League final goes Wednesday, March 14 at the Vernon Curling Club.
