He’s been 10 times to the pinnacle of Canadian men’s curling, the Montana’s (formerly Tim Hortons) Brier, as B.C. champion.
Now, Vernon’s Jim Cotter will make his first-ever trip to the Canadian women’s curling championships – the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Cotter is the coach of the Corryn Brown rink of Kamloops - Cotter’s hometown – and the squad earned a wild card spot Monday, Jan. 29, in the 18-team Canadian championships Feb. 16-25 in Calgary.
The news came a day after Brown and company lost the B.C. Scotties final to Clancy Grandy of Vancouver 11-3 at the Esquimault Curling Club near Victoria.
“The team is super thrilled, they’ve had a phenomenal season,” said Cotter. “They put themselves in a position to get the spot. We wished for a better outcome in the final game Sunday but we’re excited to be going to the Scotties.”
The 18 teams at the Scotties include Team Canada - Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., seeking a record fifth straight title – 13 provincial/territorial champions (Nunavut withdrew from the event earlier this month) and four Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) qualifiers — split into two pools of nine.
Brown and Kate Cameron of Winnipeg were confirmed Monday as the the two highest placed CTRS standings that did not win their respecitve provincial or territorial championship.
Two pre-qualified teams — Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa and Team Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg/Altona, Man. — were declared based on 2022-23 CTRS rankings.
Teams will play a complete eight-game round robin within their pools. From there, the top three teams in each pool advance to the playoffs.
Brown is in the same pool as Einarson and Team Alberta’s Selena Sturmay of Edmonton. Sturmay’s lineup includes Dezeray Hawes, a member of Brown’s 2023 team that fell 10-9 in the provincial final to Grandy in Chilliwack, denying the Kamloops squad a berth in the National Scotties in their hometown of Kamloops.
Grandy was undefeated in Esquimault, going 7-0 in the preliminary round which included a 9-2 romp over Brown. Grandy and Brown finished one-two atop the standings to meet in the playoffs, with Grandy advancing straight to the final after an 11-3 decision. Brown beat Kristen Ryan of Maple Ridge 8-5 in the semifinal.
The B.C. Men’s championship was also held in Esquimault. Cotter’s former teammate Catlin Schneider won the tankard, defeating Jason Montgomery of Victoria 5-2 in the final.
Schneider, who threw third rocks for Cotter in 2018 when they lost the B.C. in Parksville to Sean Geall of Kelowna, is from Regina and will get to play in the Brier in his hometown March 1-10. His winning rink includes Victoria’s Sterling Middleton at third, and Alex Horvath at second, and lead Jason Ginter of Edmonton.
Schneider overcame a challenging route to victory, bouncing back from a heartbreaking loss to Jeff Richard of Kelowna in the A Qualifier Final. Their redemption journey included a win in the B Qualifier over Cameron de Jong of Victoria – whose rink included Erik Colwell of Vernon at second and John Slattery of Vernon as the fifth –and a crucial 6-3 victory over Richard in the A vs B Qualifier to advance to the gold-medal match.
The de Jong rink was eliminated in a C Qualifier by Brent Pearce of New Westminster. Montgomery advanced to the final with a 7-5 decision over Richard.
Vernon’s Rob Nobert went 2-3 at the provincials. He opened with a 9-2 victory over Brad Thompson before being dropped to the B event with a 7-5 loss to Schneider. Montgomery defeated Norbert 8-6, sending the Vernon skip to the C event. Norbert defeated Sebastien Robillard of New Westminster 8-6 before being eliminated 7-2 by Pierce.
Norbert was joined on the team by third Mitchell Kopytko, second Coburn Fadden and lead Cameron Weir, all from Kamloops.
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