Four time defending champion Jim Cotter will take on a familiar foe, Sean Geall, in the semifinals of the BC Men’s Curling Championships.
Both rinks will clash at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, for a spot in the championship game on Sunday at 4 p.m.
This meeting is a rematch with Geall and his crew of third Jeff Richard, second Andrew Nerpin and lead David Harper seeking to avenge their 7-6 loss to the Cotter rink in the A-event final on Thursday.
The other semifinal will be between Victoria Curling Club rink skipped by Jason Montgomery and Team Dean Joanisse of the Golden Ears Winter Club, at 7 p.m.
Geall and his Kelowna Curling Club rink defeated Brent Pierce’s Royal City Curling Club foursome of third Andrew Bilesky, second Steve Kopf and lead Rhys Gamache 8-3 to claim the B-event final on Friday afternoon.
“Much better. Two well played games today,” said Geall, adding in his comment to Curl BC he would like a second shot at Cotter following Thursday’s loss. “The way we’re playing now, if we can keep this going, I like our chances. The first half of that game (against Cotter) wasn’t going our way and the momentum we gained in the second half paid off today.”
Cotter used a four-ender in that first matchup with Geall to grab a 6-1 lead at the break before Geall recorded one in the sixth end, followed by steals of one in the seventh, eighth and ninth to make it close.
“Every team here wants to come through A-side. We’ve done it in the past, now we have to stay sharp and prepare properly,” Cotter, the four-time defending champion, said of that victory.
Ironically, the last time Cotter was not on the winning provincial team was 2013 in Parksville, when Bilesky skipped the winning team with Kopf playing third. The team Bilesky defeated in the final was skipped by Pierce with Richard at third.
On Friday morning, Geall doubled Victoria’s Glen Jackson 4-2 in an old-fashioned tussle that featured five blank ends in a B-event semi-final, while Pierce outlasted Joanisse of the Golden Ears Winter Club 8-7.
Jackson then dropped down to the C Event where he would face son-in-law Chris Baier, who also hails from Victoria, with a team based out of Kelowna. Cal Jackson, Glen’s son, also plays lead on the Baier team, making it a true family clash.
Jackson came out the winner there, staying alive with a 5-4 extra end victory that eliminated his son and son-in-law.
“It’s nice to win that one. You have to have bragging rights for the summer, right?” Glen Jackson said of knocking the kids off with a delicate wide draw to grab a piece of the button for the win.
“That was important, but it gets us to the next game, too,” the elder Jackson said of the family bragging rights. “I’m probably disowned now, we’ll see how that goes.”
Baier had eliminated Mark Longworth of Vernon 7-3 in the morning draw and Montgomery sent Wylie Eden of Penticton home via an 8-5 victory.
Montgomery then edged Grant Dezura of the Golden Ears club 9-7 with a steal of two in an extra end in C-play, and Joanisse dumped Wes Craig of Victoria 11-7.
— NEWS Staff/Curl BC release