Brent Pierce went to the well twice but came away thirsty on both occasions at the B.C. men’s provincial curling championships.
The Burnaby skip, including Sean Geall, second Sebastien Robillard and lead Mark Olson, lost 9-8 in the playoffs to eventual B.C. and former Olympic champion John Morris of the Kelowna/Vernon rink.
The Pierce foursome then dropped a second straight one-rock outcome 8-7 to Jason Montgomery of Duncan on the final rock in a thrilling semifinal at the Vancouver Curling Club on Sunday.
Against Montgomery, Pierce came back from a 7-4 deficit in the seventh end, tying the match with one in the eighth and steals in both the ninth and 10th ends.
But in the 11th end, Pierce guided his last rock past a tight guard to the top side of the button to lie shot rock. Montgomery then outdrew Pierce with a share of the button and won on a close measurement.
In the opening playoff with Morris, Pierce, the 2009 provincial champ, blew an 8-5 lead in the 10th, missing a raised takeout on his final shot and leaving the Okanagan rink with a four-ender and the win.
Morris went on to post a decisive 11-2 win over Montgomery in the B.C. final, earning a seventh trip to the Brier.
It will be the fourth trip to the nationals for Kamloops native Jim Cotter and lead Rick Sawatsky.
Pierce qualified for the playoff following a 6-4 win in the B event final against Brent Yamada of Kamloops on Friday.
In the B final, Pierce scored a three-ender in the second and stole one in the third to lead 4-2. The game-winning rock came on a single in the sixth end.
Royal City Curling Club’s Ken McArdle and last year’s B.C. champion Andrew Bilesky were both unable to make it to the playoff, finishing with two and one win, respectively, in event play.
This year’s Brier will be held in Kamloops from March 1 to 9.
