Welcome back, Cotter.
It wasn鈥檛 a Super Sunday for Jason Montgomery of Victoria. But it was for the Jim Cotter rink of Vernon and Kelowna as Cotter won his fifth sa国际传媒 men鈥檚 curling championship by defeating Montgomery 9-4 in the final in Quesnel.
The result denied Montgomery the first trip by an Island rink to the Tim Hortons Brier national championship since Dean Joanisse of Victoria in 2007.
Cotter, meanwhile will add the 2019 Brier, from March 2-10 in Brandon, Manitoba, to his Brier appearances of 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016. Cotter also beat Montgomery in the 2012 sa国际传媒 final to get to the Brier.
鈥淚t never gets old . . . it feels great,鈥� said Cotter, in a statement.
鈥淧robably our strongest thing is our team bond. It鈥檚 just remarkable. We鈥檙e really close on and off the ice and I think that鈥檚 what brings success.鈥�
Montgomery鈥檚 only three losses in the sa国际传媒 tournament were against Cotter in the championship game after a 7-5 setback in the A-event final and 9-3 loss in the 1-2 Page playoff.
鈥淲e were clearly the second-best team there all week,鈥� said Montgomery, after arriving back to the Island on Monday.
鈥淲e played well, but Cotter has a ton of experience, and was just a little bit better. We controlled play in every other game.鈥�
Until running into that granite wall known as the Cotter rink.
Montgomery doggedly scored one each in the sixth, seventh and eighth ends to make it 6-4 in the championship final before Cotter brought the hammer down with three in the ninth.
鈥淐otter is the team to beat, for sure,鈥� said Montgomery, heading into the sa国际传媒 tournament.
That assessment proved accurate right to the button.
Montgomery鈥檚 rink 鈥� consisting of third Cam de Jong, second Miles Craig and lead Will Duggan 鈥� made a run through the playoff round with a 12-5 victory over the Royal City-Kamloops-Victoria rink of Tyler Klymchuk, 9-2 win over defending-champion Sean Geall of Abbotsford, 7-4 decision over three-time Canadian junior champion Tyler Tardi rink of Langley, which features Alex Horvath of Victoria at lead, and an 11-5 blowout of Josh Barry of Golden Ears in the semifinal before bowing to Cotter in the final.
Now twice Montgomery has stood a win away from the Brier and twice he has been denied by Cotter.
鈥淭hey were just a little bit better,鈥� reiterated Montgomery, who instead of planning for Brandon, will now wind down the season as the leader in the Victoria Super League standings.
Also taking part in the provincial championship was Joanisse and the Victoria rink of skip Matthew Blandford, third Chris Baier, second Derek Ryan and lead Cal Jackson.
Meanwhile, the women鈥檚 sa国际传媒 championship also took place in Quesnel. The defending champion Kesa Van Osch rink from Nanaimo, Parksville and Vancouver finished 2-5 and off the podium this time around.
The Sarah Wark rink of Abbotsford defeated Corryn Brown of Kamloops 7-4 in the final. Brown had defeated the Brette Richards rink, which features Steph Jackson Baier of Victoria, in the semifinal.
Wark will represent sa国际传媒 at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian championship Feb. 16-24 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
