Eight teams will battle for two qualifying spots for the Belairdirect sa国际传媒 Men鈥檚 Curling Championship through this weekend鈥檚 Island playdowns at the Victoria Curling Club.
Among them will be a handful of VCC teams skipped by Glen Jackson, Wes Craig, Neil Dangerfield, Jason Montgomery and junior Alex Horvath, who is listed as the skip on Paul Henderson鈥檚 foursome. Richard Brower鈥檚 rink is listed as a split between the VCC and Richmond clubs, while Richmond鈥檚 Kelly McQuiggan and Matthew McCrady of the Royal City Club round out the field.
The event begins Saturday at 9 a.m. followed by Draws 2 and 3 at 1 and 6 p.m. The A and B qualifiers will be determined on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Quadra Street facility.
Among the opening four games will be a clash of wily veterans as Jackson faces Craig.
鈥淭his is when we usually get going. We have been working hard at it, but we haven鈥檛 had a lot of success,鈥� Jackson admitted of his rink that includes Andrew Komlodi at third, second Corey Chester and lead Joel Cave.
鈥淚 think our team is geared to do better at the playdowns and we鈥檙e excited about that,鈥� said Jackson, who is glad to be playing on home ice. 鈥淭he ice is good here and we feel comfortable on it so that might be a little bit of an advantage when you鈥檙e playing teams from out of town, but we鈥檒l see how that goes.鈥�
The rink competed, but struggled at both the Abbotsford and Penticton stops on the World Curling Tour last month.
In Penticton they faced some tough competition, including Brier champ Kevin Koe, Peter de Cruz of Switzerland and Jaap van Dorp of Netherlands. Jackson did come out with a 7-4 win against Dean Joanisse. Koe defeated Sweden鈥檚 Niklas Edin in the final of the Ashley Home Store Curling Classic in early Nov.
Two weeks later, the Jackson rink lost all three games at the Driving Force Abbotsford Cashspiel, which was won by Montgomery鈥檚 team. That should make the foursome 鈥� which includes third Cameron de Jong, second Miles Craig and lead Will Duggan 鈥� one of the favourites this weekend.
Montgomery opens Saturday morning against the Henderson rink, skipped by Horvath.
Meanwhile, 10 women鈥檚 teams will compete for three qualifying spots for the sa国际传媒 Scotties beginning today in Hope. Among the teams at the Open event will be Dailene Pewarchuk鈥檚 VCC rink, Kesa Van Osch鈥檚 Nanaimo foursome and a split VCC/Vancouver squad that includes locals Steph Jackson-Baier and Carley Sandwith.
Pewarchuk, with Rachelle Kallechy at third, second Adina Tasaka and lead Patty Wallingham, was a finalist at the Abbotsford spiel, losing the final to Victoria Moiseeva of Russia.
The three qualifiers in Hope will advance to the sa国际传媒 Scotties, slated for Jan. 2-17 at the Victoria Curling Club.
Men鈥檚 provincials are scheduled for Jan. 30-Feb. 4 in Parksville.
鈥淚n this draw, if you drop down, you鈥檙e going to be playing every draw all weekend long. If you win a game or two at the beginning it will be much better,鈥� Jackson said of getting off to a fast start at VCC on Saturday and hopefully advancing to the sa国际传媒 championship.
Of course, a number of teams have already pre-qualified for provincials, including Joanisse鈥檚 team from the Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge and Sean Geall鈥檚 Kelowna crew in the men鈥檚.
Diane Gushulak from the Royal City Club in New Westminster and Kamloops鈥檚 Corryn Brown have pre-qualified for the women.
Meanwhile, the field for the 2018 Boston Pizza sa国际传媒 Junior Curling Championships is now complete.
The Juan de Fuca/Kerry Park team of Kayla Wilson, Brenna Drought, Loganne Bell, Sasha Wilson and Cassandra Blenkin qualified for the upcoming Dec. 18-23 event last weekend at the Langley Curling Centre.
On the junior men鈥檚 side, Curl BC recently awarded a berth to junior men鈥檚 provincials to skip Horvath and his VCC rink consisting of Ryan Cassidy, Zane Bartlett and Tim Henderson, despite their loss in the B-event final.
