The curling gods giveth and the curling gods taketh away.
Wes Craig experienced both late in the A-event final of the Island men鈥檚 playdowns at Victoria Curling Centre on Sunday morning, outlasting Ken McArdle 9-8 to earn the first of two berths to the Belairdirect sa国际传媒 men鈥檚 championship in Abbotsford Feb. 8-12.
McArdle then lost the B-event berth in a 7-6 defeat at the hands of veteran Glen Jackson in the afternoon.
In the A-final, a Craig error in the ninth gave McArdle an open draw for three to assume an 8-7 lead. McArdle gave it right back in the 10th with a miss on an attempted double takeout that allowed Craig to hit for two and the win.
鈥淲e gave up that three and then with my double peel I got lucky and rubbed our rock in for shot so they had to chase us the last couple of shots,鈥� said Craig. 鈥淚 thought we controlled the game until the ninth. They had a good ninth and we played badly, but at least we came back.鈥�
Craig heads back to provincials for the umpteenth time, this time, however, with his son Miles Craig at third. The two usually play mixed together and, in fact, competed at the Canadian mixed championship along with sisters Kesa and Marika Van Osch in Yarmouth, N.S., last month, finishing 5-4.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to get it done and it鈥檚 nice to play with my son in the men鈥檚, this is the first year for that. There are not a lot of sports where you get to do that,鈥� said Wes, 58, who is also joined by youngsters Cameron de Jong and Josh Hozack at second and lead, respectively.
It was a hectic finish that followed a wild beginning to the A-final. Craig was kept to a single in the first but then followed McArdle鈥檚 deuce in the second with a three-counter of his own in the third. McArdle came right back with two more in the fourth before teams were forced into singles for the next three ends.
That鈥檚 when the game changed as Craig stole one in the eighth for a comfortable 7-5 lead. At least it looked comfortable until he missed his raise when it was too heavy, which allowed McArdle to draw for three in the ninth.
鈥淭hat sort of came out of nowhere. It certainly didn鈥檛 look like we were going to give up three, then all of a sudden it was, 鈥極h, oh.鈥� It was nice to win, especially with dad,鈥� said Miles Craig, who usually curls with Jason Montgomery, who has taken the year off because of an injury that requires surgery next month.
The B final was a defensive tussle through the first three blanked ends until McArdle and his team of third Denis Sutton, second Darren Boden and lead Glen Allen was forced into one in the fourth. McArdle, who was replacing the injured Neil Dangerfield on his usual VCC rink, gave up a four-ender to Jackson in the fifth and allowed a steal of three in the sixth before pecking his way back into the game.
Jackson, with Andrew Komlodi at third, Corey Chester at second and lead Joel Cave, had defeated Jordan Kiss鈥檚 young team by a 6-4 count in the morning thanks to single steals in the ninth and 10th ends. The Kiss rink was comprised of fellow juniors Derek Chandler at second and lead Scott Gray to go with recently graduated junior Connar Croteau at third.
Jackson downed Ron Schmidt of Comox Valley 8-7 late Saturday night to stay alive after losing 4-2 to Craig on Saturday afternoon.
