Morning Star Staff
Six Brier appearances. Missing the Olympics by one game. Great curling moments, indeed, for Vernon’s Jim Cotter.
But nothing, he told sports editor Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, beats playing with daughter Jaelyn, as the pair represent B.C. at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship at Saskatoon’s Nutana Club.
“Because I’m curling with Jaelyn, this is the highlight of my curling career,” said Cotter. “To play at a national event with your daughter … what beats that?”
Jaelyn’s the youngest player in the field, and is brushing up against curling luminaries like Rachel Homan, Mike and Dawn McEwen, and Chelsea Carey. It’s a thrill, she said. But so is playing with pop.
“I usually curl with four girls, and now I get to curl just me and my dad, which is so cool,” said Jaelyn, also interviewed by the Star-Phoenix.
“My biggest dream is to make it into the Scotties, or something like that. I’m not going to stop working hard; I’m going to work hard until I can make it to those kind of big, crazy things.”
After splitting their first two games, the Cotters finished opening day Thursday with a 6-5 win over Alberta’s Jessie Kaufman and Brock Virtue.
On Friday, father-daughter lost 10-3 to veterans Jocelyn Peterman of Alberta and Brett Gallant of Newfoundland/Labrador, then improved to 3-2 with a 10-1 romp over Lora Browne and Nick Kaeser of the Northwest Territories.
Peterman recently curled with Chelsey Carey at the Ford Women’s World Championships in Swift Current, while Gallant threw second stones for Brad Gushue at the Tim Hortons Brier in Ottawa, losing in the final to Alberta’s Kevin Koe.
Against the pair from the Territories, the Cotters scored four in the first end with hammer, then stole four points over the next three ends for an 8-0 cushion after four.
The Cotters played Ottawa’s Lisa Weagle and Toronto’s John Epping Friday night before wrapping up the preliminary round Saturday morning against Saskatchewan veterans Stephanie Lawton and Steve Laycock.
The Cotter duo formed their mixed doubles team as a way to prepare Jaelyn for her skipping duties at the B.C. Winter Games. They played their first games together at provincials at the Enderby Curling Club.
“We read the rules the night before, went out and played, got on a roll and worked really well together,” said Jim. “We strung some wins together, and next thing you know, we’re off to Saskatoon.”
The Vernon-based dad-daughter duo — with Jaelyn throwing the first and fifth stones, and Jim the second, third and fourth — won the provincial crown with an 8-5 win over Vancouver’s Andrew Forrest and Becky Campbell.
“The good thing,” said Cotter, “is Jaelyn and I throw a lot of rocks together; I coach her junior and juvenile team, and we go out and practise lots. When we got into B.C. provincials, it was very comfortable and easy for us.
“We don’t put any expectations on ourselves. Obviously, it would be awesome to win and get there, but just the opportunity to play with my daughter is a phenomenal feeling. I’ve never been so excited to curl at this time of year.”
Former Vernon curler Dave Stephenson is into the semifinals at the 2016 Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Digby, NS.
Stephenson throws third rocks for Bob Ursel’s Kelowna rink, which went 3-1 in the championship round, securing a final four berth, after going 4-2 in the round-robin.
Ursel handed Ontario’s Bryan Cochrane his first loss of the championships, 8-2, Friday morning, then lost 6-0 to Manitoba’s Randy Neufeld Friday afternoon.
Ursel played either Cochrane or Neufeld in a semifinal Saturday morning, with Cochrane or Neufeld taking on Nova Scotia’s Alan O’Leary in the other semi.
Vernon’s Sherry Heath, throwing lead rocks for Kelowna’s Diane Foster at the Canadian Senior Women’s Championships in Digby, helped B.C. finish third out of six in the consolation, or seeding, pool, with a 2-1 mark.
Foster beat Debbie Moss of the Northwest Territories 7-3 and Peggy Taylor of Northern Ontarior 8-2 before losing 6-4 in her final game Friday to Leslie Grant of the Yukon.
Foster finished the 14-team championship with an overall record of 4-5.
---with files from the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
Love’s Vernon junior rink takes Pot of Gold
Youth beat experience in the A final of the 60th annual Pot of Gold Bonspiel at the Armstrong Curling Club.
Thomas Love and his Vernon junior squad, which includes Eric Colwell, Johnathan Schwartz and Armsrong’s Brenden Chapple, beat a Kamloops masters team, skipped by Wayne Saboe, 4-1 in the A. Bennett Systems and Design A final.
Love has represented the zone at the last two provincial junior curling finals. Saboe was the 1963 Canadian junior champion, amassing an unmatched 28-0 playoff record that year, and would play in the 1970 Brier with Canadian legend Hec Gervais.
The final game was all about controlling the hammer.
The CW Forestry-sponsored B final featured a team of local seniors, skipped by Rich Medhurst, taking on the Darcy Hoffman team from Kelowna.
Medhurst took three in the first end, added a four-pointer in the third and clinched the game with a single in the seventh for an 8–6 victory.
Ironically, Medhurst – the 1972 Pot of Gold champion – and his third, Don Cominetti, won the competitive event with two relatively new curlers: lead Derby Danyk is in his first year of curling and second Jake Konrad in his third year.
The Noble Tractor C event featured John Campbell’s Armstrong team of Wayne and Dennis Heinrichs and Dave Gray playing against the Dennis Mori team from Vernon.
After four ends the score stood at 4-1 for the local boys.
Campbell put the game out of reach with a further steal of four in the fifth and the Mori team chose to shake hands and both teams headed upstairs for a well-deserved rest.
The 60th annual Pot of Gold was well attended with a full field of 32 teams taking to the ice.
The entry list featured teams from as far away as Richmond, Kamloops, 100 Mile House, Revelstoke and from neighbouring clubs such as Vernon and Salmon Arm.
This year, the Armstrong Men’s event was part of the Thompson Okanagan Men’s Bonspiel tour, a Curl BC pilot project where the players participating in the tour are competing for a berth in the BC Men’s Bonspiel Tours Championship.