The waiting game paid off for Jim Cotter’s Woodland Equipment in the quarterfinals of the Baron Insurance Super League playoffs Wednesday night at the Vernon Curling Club.
After blanking the first three ends, Cotter collected a deuce in four en route to a 4-2 win over Mark Longworth’s Sladen Moore.
Forcing Longworth to take a single in the fifth end, the Woodland crew made a draw for one against four Longworth stones in the sixth.
After a lot of pressure and great shot making in seven, Longworth settled for a single in seven to trail by one heading into the final end. After a great trick shot by Woodland super spare Breanne McLean, Jason Wizniak and Aron Herrick played the peel game to run Longworth out of stones.
The Cotter crew faces Brad Wood’s Nufloors in Wednesday’s semifinal draw.
In the other quarterfinal, Canwest Propane skip Darren Heath delivered a double takeout with his final stone to ice TJ Perepolkin’s Canaccord Wealth Management 6-4.
Dave Belway subbed for Merklinger, who is away making ice at the Scotties women’s championships in Red Deer.
Canwest faces North Enderby Timber’s Robbi Kuhn in the other Wednesday semi.
Both Longworth and Perepolkin collected $150. First- and second-place finishers pocket $600 and $400 respectively, with semifinalists earning $300 each.
Meanwhile, Team Canada, featuring Armstrong’s Ina Forrest at third and Vernon’s Sonja Gaudet at lead, finished in a three-way tie for sixth at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships in Chuncheon, South Korea.
Canada – with Darryl Neighbour at skip and Jack Smart at second – scored two points in an extra end Thursday to down the U.S. 7-5.
They were tied with Sweden and Scotland at 3-6 in the 10-team, round-robin mixed tournament. The win over the U.S. means Canada avoids relegation to the world wheelchair curling championship qualification event in Finland next November.
South Korea, Russia and China finished shared first place at 7-2 after preliminary play.
