Back in its heyday, the men鈥檚 Island curling playdowns was a huge draw.
My how times have changed.
鈥淚n my first one here we had 32 teams, and that was just on the Island,鈥� said Keith Dagg, who, outside of holding the broom and throwing lead stones for Glen Jackson in the Monday men鈥檚 league at Victoria Curling Centre, knows a thing or two about the history of the roaring game in Victoria.
Dagg, who has organized the world men鈥檚 and the women鈥檚 Scotties events in Victoria, has also competed in the Victoria area since the early 1960s.
Key ahead to this year鈥檚 men鈥檚 playdowns, which begin today at the VCC, and you now find just five teams looking for two berths to the provincial championship.
Jackson, and his rink of third Andrew Komlodi, second Corey Chester and lead Joel Cave, is one of the favourites heading into the two-day bonspiel at their home rink.
鈥淚鈥檓 not as old as Keith, but I鈥檓 old enough to know that there used to be 30-plus teams out of Vancouver Island,鈥� said Jackson, who opens play at 2:30 p.m. against another local wily veteran, Wes Craig, who is backed by third Miles Craig, second Cameron de Jong and lead Josh Hozack.
鈥淚 think the rest of the province is the same. There aren鈥檛 tons of teams playing anywhere,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a recent event, it鈥檚 been declining over the years for competitive curlers. Not as many teams can get there and subsequently less and less are playing.鈥�
Jackson has competed in about 30 of these events and did qualify with this same team last season.
He has won two provincial men鈥檚 crowns, one here in 2001 with Dean Joanisse and one out of Alberta with legendary skip Paul Gowsell in 1980. Jackson also claimed the national junior title in 1975 and world junior crown in 1976 with Gowsell, third Neil Houston and lead Kelly Stearne.
Last season Jackson advanced through the Open zone and finished fourth at provincials with this team.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been getting better as the year has gone along,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淲e鈥檝e played quite well here at Victoria club so we like that it鈥檚 here. The ice is good and it suits the way we play, a straight-forward game. There are five good teams, we鈥檝e seen them all and know all of them well,鈥� he said.
Jordan Kiss of Victoria (with his team of third Connar Croteau, second Derek Chandler and lead Scott Gray) plays Ron Schmidt of Comox Valley in the lone 10 a.m. game to kick the event off. Schmidt is joined by third Norm Cote, second Craig Bernes and lead Darren Richards.
The other competitor is Ken McArdle who takes over as skip of Neil Dangerfield鈥檚 team while he nurses a hamstring injury. Denis Sutton plays third with Darren Boden at second and Glen Allen at lead. Dangerfield is down as the fifth man on the rink.
McArdle, who led the rink to a runner-up finish to John Morris鈥檚 team at the Abbotsford cashspiel last month, will face the winner of the Kiss vs. Schmidt game at 2:30 p.m. The A-qualifier is set for 10 a.m. on Sunday with the B-qualifier to follow at 2:30 p.m. at the VCC on Quadra Street, which is open for fans to the event.
Meanwhile, Paul Henderson of Victoria is playing second for Daniel Wenzek鈥檚 Royal City rink which is competing in the 10-team Lower Mainland playdowns at Maple Ridge this weekend.
As Jackson stated, numbers are down all over the province as only two teams are entered for the Thompson Okanagan Inter-regional event in Vernon this weekend and four teams are listed for Kootenay Inter-regional in Trail.
Teams do have another opportunity to qualify for the Belairdirect sa国际传媒 Men鈥檚 championship, slated for Feb. 8-12 in Abbotsford, at an Open qualifier Jan. 6-8 in Cloverdale.
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