With the departure of a world champion skip and the addition of a new third, it took a little time for the Jim Cotter rink to find its rhythm this season.
But by the time the B.C. men’s championship rolled around, the Okanagan foursome had more than enough in its arsenal to get the job done.
Cotter, third Ryan Kuhn, second Tyrel Griffith and lead Rick Sawatsky claimed the Vernon-Kelowna team’s second straight provincial crown Sunday at the Vernon Curling Club.
Cotter drew to the button with his final rock to score a 7-6 victory over Victoria’s Dean Joanisse to earn a berth in the Brier next month in Calgary.
“It just feels fabulous,” said Cotter, who has won four of the last five B.C. titles. “I’m so proud of my guys. We went through a lot of adversity. We had so many one-point games this week and we knew we had a target on our backs. We seem to like those close games and relish in that moment.”
The Cotter team—which added Kuhn at third last fall to replace departed skip John Morris—didn’t exactly do it the easy way in Vernon.
The Okanagan curlers lost to Joanisse 8-5 in the 1-2 Page playoff game Saturday morning, then had to scratch out a 7-6 win over Kelowna’s Brent Pierce in the semifinal later that evening to qualify for the final.
“It was a grind all week,” Griffith said. “There were some good teams there that didn;t make it easy. But we battled through, played one shot at a time and tried to make the most of every one. It turned out well for us.”
The win marked both Cotter and Sawatsky’s fifth B.C. men’s curling title. Kuhn, a former world junior champ, was a winner for the first time, while Griffith is now a three-time provincial men’s champ.
“It feels phenomenal,” Griffith said of the win. “It’s every curlers dream to play for those purple hearts, so to get another one is great. Some guys play their entire lives and don’t get one. I have the greatest teammates and that’s the reason we’re going to another Brier.”
The Okanagan rink will represent B.C. at the Tim Hortons Brier, Feb. 28 to March 8 in Calgary.
