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When Neil Dangerfield suffered a hamstring injury a few weeks ago, he turned to a wily veteran to guide his Victoria Curling Centre rink into the Island men鈥檚 playdowns.
Dangerfield initially asked Jason Montgomery of Duncan to slide into the position, but when Montgomery was busy Dangerfield gave Ken McArdle, the icemaker at the Royal City club in New Westminster, a call and the veteran of seven provincial battles filled in.
On Saturday, McArdle, third Denis Sutton, second Darren Boden and lead Glen Allen won their afternoon game to advance to this morning鈥檚 A-event final to attempt to earn one of two berths to provincials in Abbotsford in February.
McArdle dusted off a junior rink skipped by Jordan Kiss, also of the Royal City club, who is joined by locals Connar Croteau at third, second Derek Chandler and lead Scott Gray 7-5 in one A semifinal. Wes Craig downed Glen Jackson 4-2 in the other, a much more defensive battle.
鈥淚鈥檝e had a couple of years off, but there鈥檚 30-some years of competitive curling there,鈥� said McArdle, who also led the rink to a second-place finish to John Morris鈥檚 crew at the Abbotsford cashspiel two weeks ago.
鈥淭he boys are playing really well and we鈥檙e looking forward to playing the grizzled veterans in the A final.鈥�
Down 2-0 after two ends, McArdle 鈥� who coached Dean Joanisse鈥檚 2007 provincial men鈥檚 winner 鈥� struck for three in the third and stole two in the fourth to earn the win. A deuce in the eighth solidified the victory.
As for Craig, who is joined by Miles Craig at third, Cameron de Jong at second and lead Josh Hozack, the foursome escaped serious harm in the eighth to win the battle of wily local veterans.
Sitting three with last-rock advantage, Jackson鈥檚 angle raise with his first rock was a tad heavy and left him in the open. Craig played a terrific hit and roll to bury on the button. Jackson鈥檚 last rock run-back attempt ended up in a steal for a 4-1 Craig lead.
鈥淗e had us in a lot of trouble, but we managed to get that roll and stole one. That was huge,鈥� Craig said. 鈥淚t got us out of trouble after we had about three misses.鈥�
For Jackson and teammates Andrew Komlodi at third, Corey Chester at second and Joel Cave at lead, the team never really settled in, allowing a steal in the fifth to fall behind 2-0 before finally getting on the board in the sixth.
Craig meets McArdle at 10 a.m. for one provincial spot and the B-event qualifier is set for 2:30 p.m. at the VCC.
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