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Vernon curler Colwell victorious in Colwood

Erik Colwell and Ben Morin of Vernon win B.C. U18 Boys Curling Championship on Vancouver Island
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Vernon curlers Ben Morin (left) and Erik Colwell have won the B.C. U18 Boys Curling Championship in Colwood, near Victoria. (Morning Star - file photo)

Vernon curlers Erik Colwell and Ben Morin are now 1-1 in B.C. curling finals in 2019.

The pair, who lost the B.C. Junior Men’s Final to eventual Canadian and World champion Tyler Tardi of Langley New Year’s Day at his home Vernon Curling, won the B.C. U18 Boys Curling Championships at the Juan de Fuca Curling Centre in Colwood, near Victoria, defeating Hayato Sato of New Westminster 9-4 in the gold-medal match.

Sato recently won the gold medal in boys curling at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.

READ ALSO: Vernon’s Colwell sets focus on home provincials

Colwell’s Vernon-Kamloops-Invermere rink of third Mitchell Kopytko, second Morin and lead Tyler Powell gave up a deuce in the opening end Sunday (without hammer), then equalized with a pair of their own in the third.

In the fourth, Colwell and company stole two for a 4-2 lead. Sato got one back to make it 4-3 in the fifth, then stole a single point to tie the game in the sixth.

With hammer, Colwell could only score a single point in seventh and led 5-4 without hammer heading to the eighth end, where the turning point in the contest came.

The Vernon skip went out and stole four points for a 9-4 lead, and early handshakes.

The Colwell rink now advances to the national U18 championships April 2-7 in Sherwood Park, Alta.

Colwell went 5-2 in the round-robin of the eight-team field to clinch second place and a playoff spot.

The team was on a collision course with Sato as both teams started 5-0 and were scheduled to meet in the final round-robin game Friday afternoon with a possible showdown of undefeated rinks awaiting.

But Colwell and Sato both lost in Draw 6 – Colwell 8-4 to Johnson Tao of Richmond, Sato fell 3-2 to Alex Duncan-Wu of New Westminster.

Both Colwell and Sato were 5-1 going into the Friday showdown, which started with Sato scoring four in the first end and rolling to an 8-4 win over Colwell.

Sato got the bye to the final for finishing atop the standings.

READ ALSO: Vernon skip in hunt at B.C. U18 Curling Finals

Colwell, Duncan-Wu and Connor Deane of Delta all finished 5-2. Colwell got a bye to the semifinal after having defeated both rinks in the round-robin. Deane beat Duncan-Wu 5-2 in the tiebreaker to advance to play Colwell in Saturday’s semifinal.

Colwell jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three ends, then used his last rock in the eighth and final end to score one for a 5-4 victory.



roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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