Update: Team Cotter won 10-6 with the help of four stolen ends.
For Jim Cotter and Rick Sawatsky, it was a record ninth BC title and trip to the Brier.
As Team Tardi prepares to battle for top spot at the 2020 BC Men’s Curling Championship in Cranbrook, fans are gathering at the Langley Curling Club to cheer them on when the game begins at 1 p.m. today (Sunday).
As juniors, Tardi played out of Langley, and the local club is is offering specials on an appetizer buffet and drinks with an invitation to stay and watch the Superbowl.
Winner of the provincials goes to the Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston, Ont.
Tardi is going up against defending champion Jim Cotter, who will be looking for his ninth trip to the Brier and will be returning with his Kelowna/Vernon team of Steve Laycock and Rick Sawatsky, adding Andrew Nerpin to replace Tyrel Griffith.
READ MORE: Tyler Tardi takes aim at men’s competition
READ ALSO: Gold medal games get underway at the New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championship in Langley
Tyler is joined by his brother Jordan Tardi as second, Sterling Middleton, third, and Alex Horvath as lead.
The team has an impressive resume coming out of their junior career. As well as all their individual accomplishments, the team is 2019 and 2019 Canadian and World Junior Men’s Curling Champions. Tardi was well aware of what they were giving up by switching to the big leagues.
“Obviously a big risk was giving up our last year of juniors, it’s a big opportunity for anyone who can compete at that event in the nationals and it was obviously tough with it being at home,” he said.
However, it wasn’t a decision made lightly, and the team considered the pros and cons of the move.
“I think a big thing was we knew a lot of teams when they make that transition do a lot of hard losses and there’s a big growth period for that and we kind of just wanted to get that over with as soon as we could. Try to get a little bit of a head start on some other people our age.”
They approached their first pro tournament with both a smart strategy and the benefit of being well rested, a fairly new revelation for the team, Tardi noted.
“We’re overall just really excited to be here,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve actually not had back to back events — in the past we’ve had the nationals just finishing and then we just come straight here, and we’re a little tired, not going to lie, not exactly super excited to be playing in another weekend. So this is our first time we’ve kind of got to ease into it and we’re all really excited.”
