Everybody chipped in with a clutch shot here and there as Vernon’s Jim Cotter won the $18,000 Kelowna Raymond James 2% Realty/Sunset Ranch Golf Club Double Cashspiel.
Cotter, supported by third Steve Laycock of Saskatchewan and a front-end of Ty Griffith and Rick Sawatsky, both of Kelowna, brushed back Tyler Tardi of Langley 7-4 (six ends) in Sunday’s final at the Kelowna Curling Club.
Cotter, who pocketed $4,000, stopped defending B.C. champion Sean Geall of Kelowna 8-3, while Tardi shaded Daniel Wenzek of Langley 7-6 in the semifinals. Cotter stuffed Wylie Eden of Kelowna 8-1, while Tardi upended Adam Cseke of Penticton 6-2 in the quarters.
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“Out of the three spiels (this season), that was our best team effort,” said Cotter. “We all made some shots when needed so we’re heading in the right direction and there’s definitely room for improvement. Overall, our preparation was much better.”
Last week, Cotter lost 5-4 to Geall in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 HUB International Crown of Curling cashspiel in Kamloops.
Cotter swept through the Kelowna event, grounding Tardi 7-3 and dispatching Grant Dezura of Maple Ridge 5-2 in Saturday preliminary action. Cotter lost 8-3 to Adam Cseke of Penticton in his Friday opener and then ambushed Deane Horning of Castlegar 8-3 Friday afternoon. There was a field of 16.
Tardi, backed by Sterling Middleton, Matt Hall and Alex Horvath, won the 2018 world juniors last March in Langley. Hall and Horvath are newcomers to Tardi’s men’s entry.
“That’s a top-notch, young team,” said Cotter.
Cotter and Mark Longworth of Vernon will try and pick up World Curling Tour ranking points in the Ashley Home Store Classic, Nov, 23-26, in Penticton, featuring several big Canadian names.
Meanwhile, Kim Slattery of Vernon finished runner-up in the Kelowna Double, falling 7-5 to Corryn Brown of Kamloops in the final.
Slattery, who earned $2,000, was second in Kamloops last week, losing 6-2 to Sarah Wark of Kamloops.
Brown, supported by Erin Pincott, Desaray Hawes and Ashley Klymchuk, counted a deuce in the seventh end to beat Slattery in Kelowna.
The veteran Slattery, who skips and throws lead stones for a young rink of second Morgayne Eby, third Kelsi Jones, and fourth Alyssa Kyllo, disposed of Wark 5-1 in the semifinals Sunday. Brown reached the championship game with an 11-5 win over Lindsay Hudyma of Vancouver.
Slattery rocked Karla Thompson of Kamloops/Vancouver 7-0 and defeated Vernon’s Megan McGillivray 8-2 in Friday draws before losing 5-3 to Brown and turning back Euni Kim of Korea 7-5 Saturday.
Team Slattery played extremely strong against Wark, taking advantage of a few Wark misses.
“The girls were really focused and stayed in the moment to ensure we finished off the game,” said Slattery. “Alyssa made a key freeze in the seventh end to force Wark to a tough draw where she came up light to allow us to steal another point and go up four going into the final end. It was a great team win. Two finals in two weekends while playing great competition has given us confidence and momentum going into next month’s playdowns.”
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