Geall wins B-event, to face Cotter again

Two Okanagan-based rinks will face-off in the Page playoff 1-2 game today at the B.C. men’s curling championship in Parksville.

Sean Geall, who is playing out of the Kelowna Curling Club this year with local teammates Jeff Richard, Andrew Nerpin and Dave Harper, won the B-event on Friday with an 8-3 victory over Brent Pierce of New Westminster. That earned Geall another shot at Jim Cotter, the defending provincial champion from Vernon, whose foursome includes Tyrel Griffith and Rick Sawatsky of Kelowna, plus Catlin Schneider from Saskatchewan in place of John Morris, who is off to the Olympics in mixed doubles.

The 1-2 playoff is slated for 2 p.m. today, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s 4 p.m. final, while the loser drops to the semifinal — also Sunday, at 11 a.m., against the winner of tonight’s 3-4 game between Jason Montgomery of Victoria and Dean Joanisse of Maple Ridge, who advanced from the C-event on Friday night.

Montgomery beat Pierce 7-6, while Joanisse defeated Glen Jackson of Victoria 10-7.

In the A-event qualifier from Thursday, Cotter edged Geall 7-6 to inch closer to the Brier.

Four of the 12 teams at the provincial event featured players from Kelowna, including the Chris Baier team with Adam Cseke, Matt Tolley and Cal Jackson. Also hailing from Kelowna is Brendan Willis, the third for Grant Dezura’s rink out of Maple Ridge.

Penticton also had a presence, with Wylie Eden skipping a team from the Penticton Curling Club that featured Sean Matheson, Jason Larence and Tyler Jaeger.

There was also a second team from Vernon, skipped by Mark Longworth with Michael Longworth, Rob Nobert and John Slattery.