B.C. will hope to finish with a .500 record at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men鈥檚 curling championships in Calgary.
Team Laycock, with Steve Laycock of Saskatoon at skip, Vernon鈥檚 Jim Cotter throwing fourth rocks and the 麻豆精选 front-end of lead Rick Sawatsky and second Andrew Nerpin improved to 2-4 in the preliminary round Wednesday, March 10, with a 10-5 win in nine ends over Gregory Skauge of the Northwest Territories (1-5).
B.C. will wrap up play Thursday, March 11, against Jason Gunnlaugson of Manitoba (5-1) and Brendan Bottcher of Alberta (4-2).
There was scoring in every end in the B.C.-NWT matchup. Skauge scored one in the first and the teams traded deuces in the second and third ends.
Laycock鈥檚 rink racked up three points in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead they wouldn鈥檛 relinquish.
Skauge picked up one in the fifth, but B.C. responded with a single in six and a steal of two in the seventh for an 8-4 advantage. The Territories conceded after B.C. picked up another deuce in the ninth end.
While there was scoring in every end in the Laycock-Skauge match, Brad Edwards needed only single points in three ends to hand Manitoba鈥檚 Jason Gunnlaugson a 3-0 defeat, the first loss for the Prairie squad. Gunnlaugson is 5-1 while Edwards鈥� Northern Ontario rink improved to 5-2 with its fourth straight win.
Wayne Middaugh鈥檚 Ontario Wild Card rink improved to 5-1 with a 7-6, 11-end victory over James Grattan of New Brunswick, who forced the extra end by scoring three with hammer in the 10th. Grattan is 4-3.
Bottcher, who has lost the last three Brier finals, needed just eight ends to beat Manitoba鈥檚 Mike McEwen鈥檚 Wild Card rink 9-3. McEwen is 2-4.
In Pool B, four-time champ Kevin Koe鈥檚 Wild Card rink from Calgary is 6-0. John Epping of Ontario, Matt Dunstone of Saskatchewan and defending Brier champ Brad Gushue鈥檚 Team Canada rink from Newfoundland/Labrador are all 4-2. Michael Fournier of Quebec is 4-3.
The top four rinks from both pools advance to Friday鈥檚 championship round, carrying their round-robin records with them.
READ MORE: Vancouver Whitecaps to start season in Utah due to border restrictions
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
