Morning Star Staff
Jim Cotter’s Team B.C. rink was going to enjoy a few sodas in the Brier Patch and reflect on a great curling season as they sat on the outside of the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.
Steve Laycock of Saskatchewan defeated Cotter 4-2 Friday morning to claim the final playoff spot at the Brier, presented by SecurTek Monitoring Solutions.
Cotter’s Vernon team of third Ryan Kuhn, second Tyrel Griffith, lead Rick Sawatsky, alternate Grant Olsen and coach Pat Ryan finished in a three-way share of seventh spot at 5-6. They earned enough prize money to cover most of their expenses.
“It’s just a shot here and a shot there,” said Cotter, while chilling with his teammates Friday afternoon at the downtown Calgary Westin.
“We think we could have gone 8-3 or 7-4. It’s a slippery game. We had some untimely picks and misses, which we’re not using as excuses, but if some of those go your way, you win, and when they don’t, you lose. I’m proud of the guys.”
Kuhn, who was third for his brother, Brad, when the Vernon juniors won the 2000 world championships in Germany, replaced Johnny Morris with Cotter this season.
“It was a great experience,” said Kuhn, a pilot. “There were a few shots that could have went our way and didn’t, but we beat some good teams in a pretty good field. There were lots of ups and downs.”
The win by Laycock and his Saskatoon team of third Kirk Muyres, second Colton Flasch, lead Dallan Muyres, alternate Gerry Adam and coach Lyle Muyres, improved their record to 7-4, eliminated the chance for tiebreakers and dashed the hopes of Alberta, B.C., and Quebec, who would have been in the tiebreakers if B.C. had won.
“They definitely pushed us all the way,” Laycock said of Cotter’s foursome. “If I hadn’t played my A game we wouldn’t have had a hope. We played hard all week to get ourselves in that position and not have to worry about other sheets.”
In the other final draw games, Kevin Koe of Alberta (Calgary) beat Jeremy Mallais of New Brunswick (Saint John) 8-3, Mark Kean of Ontario (Fenelon Falls) beat Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories (Yellowknife) 8-4 and Adam Casey of Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown) beat Reid Carruthers of Manitoba (Winnipeg) 5-2.
The final standings have Northern Ontario 10-1, Newfoundland-Labrador 9-2, Saskatchewan and Team Canada 7-4, Alberta and Quebec 6-5, B.C., Ontario and P.E.I. 5-6, Manitoba 4-7, New Brunswick 2-9 and Northwest Territories 0-11.
Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario saw an opportunity in the fifth end so he took it, scored three and went on to defeat Brad Gushue of Newfoundland-Labrador 7-5 in the Page playoff 1-2 game Friday.
Jacobs advances to today’s final scheduled for 4 p.m. (Pacific time).
Gushue moved to Saturday’s’s semifinal against the winner of the Page playoff 3-4 game between Saskatchewan and Team Canada.
Meanwhile, Vernon’s Thomas Love was 2-0 going into Saturday action in the Tim Hortons B.C. Juvenile Curling Championships in Lake Cowichan.
Supported by third Erik Colwell, second Brendan Chapple, lead Johnathan Schwartz and coach Dean Chapple, Love stopped Hayato Sato of Coquitlam 11-5 in seven ends and then clipped Brayden Carpenter of New Westminster 7-6 in Friday action.
On the women’s side, Clare Schmidt of Vernon was 2-1 after slamming Elizabeth Schulz of Fraser Lake 12-2 Saturday morning.
Schmidt, who has Jaelyn Cotter (Jim’s daughter) at third, Winter Harvey at second, Cassidy Schwaerzle at lead and Pat Cotter at coach, opened weith a 6-3 win over Emily Smith of Parksville-Nanaimo and then lost 6-3 to Alyssa Cornell of Prince George-Quesnel.
Today’s winners will go on to represent B.C. at the Optimist U18 International Juvenile Curling Championships, April 1-5, in Edmonton.
