Rinks eager to begin play at Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men’s Curling Championship
By Contributor
The team that will represent British Columbia at the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier has started their journey – but first they will have to knock out the competition at the provincial championship.
Sixteen teams are looking to lock up the B.C. title at the 2016 Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men’s Curling Championship, which gets underway Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Nelson Curling Club.
Tuesday, all 16 rinks took to the Nelson ice for practice sessions, all looking to be BC’s rep at the Tim Hortons Brier in Ottawa (March 5-13).
Among the competitors is five-time B.C. champion and 2013 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials silver medalist Jim Cotter and his Vernon/Kelowna rink of third Ryan Kuhn, second Tyrel Griffith and lead Rick Sawatsky.
Also fighting for another B.C. title is Dean Joanisse, past champion 2001 and 2007 B.C. champion, and his Royal City rink of third Paul Cseke, second Jay Wakefield and lead John Cullen.
Also competing at the event is Team Wenzek, with three of the players from Team Tardi, who recently returned from the 2016 Canadian Junior Curling Championships with bronze medals.
The team of Daniel Wenzek, Jordan Tardi and Nicholas Meister will be competing with a spare because Tyler Tardi is curling in the Youth Olympic Games in Norway.
The other teams to qualify include Team Buchy, from Kimberley Curling Club, Team Ducharme, from Creston Curling Club, Team Richard, from Kelowna Curling Club, Team Longworth, from Vernon Curling Club, Team Craig, from Victoria Curling Centre, Team Dangerfield, from Victoria Curling Centre, Team Johnson, from Royal City Curling Club, Team Martyn, from Royal City Curling Club, Team Schneider, from Vancouver Curling Club, Team Geall, from Royal City Curling Club, Team Jackson, from Victoria Curling Centre, Team House, from Richmond Curling Club and Team Montgomery from Victoria Curling Centre.
The semi finals and finals of this year’s championship will be televised on Sportsnet. The semi finals will be televised at 11 a.m. on Sportsnet Pacific and the finals will be televised at 4 p.m. on Sportsnet 360.
For ticket information, and to find out more about the event, visit http://cdimens2016.curlbc.ca/.
Visit http://playdowns.com/curlbc/event.php?id_cmp=600 under the Curl BC tab to view past scores and to follow the championship event.
