TJ Perepolkin pretty much makes the A final of the Vernon Men’s Bonspiel every three years. Sometimes, he wins, sometimes he loses.
It was win time in 2018 as Perepolkin iced Ron McDougall 6-4 in the all-Vernon final Sunday at the curling club. There was a field of 48 rinks with $5,300 up for grabs. The winners also claimed a $200 50-50 pot.
“This is our second time,” said Perepolkin, a 41-year-old financial broker who captured four junior men’s provincial championships. “We won in 2013 with the same lineup and we lost the final to (Bob) Ursel’s stacked team in 2015 so don’t expect us to do anything next year, but bet on us the year after.”
Perepolkin, who had Jay Johnson at third, Paul Toovey at second and Daryl Sharpe at lead, pocketed $200 for the playoff win. He qualified in the eighths by stopping Sean Worth of Vernon 7-6 and then zapped Rob Koffski of Kelowna 6-2 in the semifinals.
The bonspiel paid out $40 for each preliminary win so Perepolkin cashed in twice after taking his opening two games.
The B final saw Blair Hedden of Quesnel take out Bruce Kerr of Vernon, while Wayne Laface of Lake Country stopped Bill King of Trail in the C event and Scott Furvick of Salmon Arm grounded Darrell Houston of Vernon for the D final title.
Meanwhile, John Morris and his Okanagan-based rink opens the Meridian Canadian Open Tuesday night at the Encana Centre in Camrose against John Epping of Toronto. Morris, of Calgary, is backed by Jim Cotter of Vernon, Catlin Schneider of Saskatchewan and Tryel Griffith of Kelowna.
The Open is the fourth event of the 2017-18 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. Sportsnet’s live coverage of the event starts Thursday at 11 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet NOW.
The Open features the top 16 men’s and women’s teams from around the world, including 2018 Olympic Games hopefuls Kevin Koe (Calgary) and Rachel Homan (Ottawa). The 32 participating teams will compete in a triple knockout bracket format, contending for a combined $250,000 purse and a berth in the Humpty’s Champions Cup, the final Grand Slam event of the season.
Vernon Curling Club manager Dave Merkliner is in London, Ont. doing the ice for the World Financial Group Continental Cup.