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Ken McArdle has Neil Dangerfield’s rink in solid position after Day 1 of the 2017 sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Men’s Curling Championship at the Abbotsford Curling Club.

McArdle — who took over Dangerfield’s Victoria Curling Centre team of third Denis Sutton, second Darren Boden and lead Glen Allen due to Dangerfield’s injury — opened the event Wednesday with a 9-6 victory in the morning over Wes Craig’s Vancouver Island team.

McArdle, the icemaker at Royal City Curling Club, used a four-ender in the eighth to record the Draw 1 victory and followed it up with an impressive 7-2 upset win over Dean Joanisse of the Golden Ears club in the afternoon draw.

That sets the VCC foursome up for a 9 a.m. matchup today against Kelowna’s Sean Geall in an A-event semifinal. Geall edged the VCC’s Glen Jackson 7-6 on Wednesday afternoon, after Jackson downed Mark Longsworth of Vernon 4-1 in the morning draw.

Meanwhile, John Morris’s rink — with three-time defending sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ champ Jim Cotter throwing final stones — rolled over Kimberley’s Tom Buchy 9-2 in just five ends in the afternoon as the tournament favourites began strong.

Morris will meet Andrew Bilesky in the other A-event semi this morning with the victors playing tonight at 7 to determine the first qualifier for playoffs. Bilesky’s Royal City rink downed sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and Canadian junior champion Tyler Tardi’s team 6-4 in the afternoon to advance.

Four games were played in Wednesday’s late draw — including Craig vs. Buchy; Jeff Guignard of Vancouver vs. Tardi; Mike Moss of Richmond vs. Jackson; and Longworth vs. Joanisse — with results unavailable by press time.