Vernon’s Jim Cotter will face Victoria’s Jason Montgomery Saturday at 9 a.m. in the A-B page playoff semifinal at the B.C. men’s curling championships in Quesnel.
The winner will advance to Sunday’s championship. The loser will get a second chance to qualify for the final, playing the winner of the two C event qualifiers’ playoff.
Cotter beat Montgomery 7-5 in Thursday’s A event final to advance to the playoffs. Montgomery dropped to the B event and won two matches to take the event, defeating Matthew Blandford of Victoria 8-3, then downing Dean Joanisse of Maple Ridge 10-5.
RELATED: Jim Cotter of Vernon into playoffs at B.C. men’s curling finals
Blandford and Joanisse dropped to the C event where the Victoria skip ensured there would be a new provincial champion in 2019, defeating reigning champ Sean Geall of Kelowna/Abbotsford 7-2 Friday morning. Blandford takes on the winner of a game between Canadian junior champ Tyler Tardi of Langley and Josh Barry of Maple Ridge in one C event qualifier.
Joanisse will face Daniel Wenzek of Langley in the other C qualifier.
The B.C. champion will head to the Tim Hortons Brier March 2-10 in Brandon.
Cotter and fellow Vernon teammate Rick Sawatsky are each seeking their eighth provincial Purple Heats and fifth in the last six years.
* Vernon’s Kim Slattery will play for pride in her final round robin game at the B.C. women’s championships, being played simultaneously at the new West Fraser Centre in Quesnel.
After opening the tournament with a win, Slattery (1-5) has lost five in a row, and will look to finish the tournament on a positive note when she takes on Karla Thompson of Kamloops (1-4) in the final draw Friday at 7 p.m.
Slattery lost 10-7 Friday morning to Brette Richards of Kelowna. Slattery scored four in the second end to take a 4-2 lead. Richards bounced right back with three in the third, only to see Slattery score singles in four and five for a 6-5 Vernon lead at the five-end break.
Richards tied the game with a single point in the sixth, and Slattery snapped the tie with one in the eighth. A four-spot in nine salted the win for the Richards rink.
Richards was in second place at 4-2 heading into play Friday afternoon. Sarah Wark of Abbotsford led the pool at 5-1 while three teams were sitting with three wins each: Corryn Brown of Kamloops (3-2); Diane Gushulak of New Westminster (3-2) and Lindsay Hudema of Vancouver (3-3).
The top four rinks in the eight-team field advance to the playoffs Saturday.
The B.C. champion will head to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Feb. 16 to 24 in Sydney, NS.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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