It took a successful final shot to the four-foot circle to beat Royal City Curling Club’s Dean Joanisse.
The 2007 provincial men’s champion was narrowly nipped by defending champion Jim Cotter of Vernon 7-6 in extra ends at the B.C. men’s curling championships on Sunday.
Tied 5-5 after a deuce by Joanisse in the eighth, the two teams swapped single ends, forcing an 11th end with Cotter holding the hammer.
Cotter, who has won four of the last five B.C. titles and Joanisse lying two, had only to place his final rock near the button to return to the men’s Brier.
The Joanisse rink of third Paul Cseke, second Jay Wakefield and lead John Cullen, was also edged 10-9 by Cotter in the A event semifinal.
The New West foursome led 6-3 after five ends, but Cotter kept chipping away at the lead before eventually taking an 8-7 advantage with a triple in the eighth.
Joanisse replied with two in the ninth, but Cotter returned the favour in the 10th end to move on to the A final.
In the B event, Joanisse nipped former RCCC skip Brent Pierce 6-5 in the quarter-finals and then clubmate Sean Geall 7-6 in the semis before winning a berth into the playoffs 8-6 over Kimberley’s Tom Buchy. Buchy also made the final in the A event, but dropped that one 5-3 to the eventual B.C. champion.
In the playoffs, Joanisse beat Cotter 8-5 to earn a spot in the provincial final.
Joanisse made steals of one in both the third and fourth ends to take a one-point lead. He kept the momentum up with a deuce in the sixth and a single steal in the ninth to move to the championship final.
Cotter then eked out a 7-6 win in 11 ends over Pierce to force the rematch with Joanisse.
In an exciting semifinal that saw five lead changes, Cotter got back to the final with a single in the final end.
The men’s Brier will be held in Calgary from Feb. 28 to March 8.
