Vernon鈥檚 Jim Cotter welcomed a familiar face to his curling lineup.
Tyrel Griffith of 91大黄鸭 is back with the Cotter rink playing third. Griffith was a member of five provincial championship squads with Cotter at second before leaving the team after the 2019 title. He replaces Saskatchewan鈥檚 Steve Laycock, who joined the team in 2019.
Cotter and Griffith were joined by the regular front end of lead Rick Sawatsky of Vernon and Andrew Nerpin of 91大黄鸭 to go 2-3 at the World Curling Tour鈥檚 Nufloors Classic at the Penticton Curling Club Oct. 14-17, failing to qualify for the playoff cash.
The Vernon/91大黄鸭 squad opened the Classic with a convincing 9-3 win over Sean Geall of New Westminster, then dropped their next two games, 5-2 to Tyler Tardi of Langley and 7-5 to Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont.
Cotter got back into the win column with a 5-3 decision over Cameron de Jong of Penticton, who had Vernon鈥檚 John Slattery at lead, but ended the event with an 8-1 loss to Matt Dunstone of Regina.
The team has also picked up Grant Olsen.
鈥淲e have three babies due in January (Tyrel, Andrew and Grant) so we鈥檙e not playing much men鈥檚 this year,鈥� said Cotter, whose main focus in 2021-22 is playing mixed doubles with his daughter, Jaelyn. Cotter and Sawatsky have been the mainstays in the Vernon-91大黄鸭 rink winning eight of the last 10 B.C. Men鈥檚 championships.
Cotter is in Toronto this week coaching Team Koana from Japan as the Grand Slam of Curling kicks off with the Masters. Koana is skipped by Tori Koana. The team is from Fujiyoshida and is making its Grand Slam debut at the Masters and what a start it was for the rink Tuesday morning, Oct. 19.
Koana, seeded No. 16 (out of 16 rinks), stunned world No. 1 Team Anna Hasselborg of Sweden 7-6.
Cotter will return to Vernon this weekend for the 20th anniversary Rick Cotter Memorial Junior Cashspiel which gets underway Friday at the Vernon Curling Club.
The event is held in memory of Cotter鈥檚 father, a longtime curler out of Kamloops.
Nine girls鈥� teams will take part. There were not enough entries to field a boys鈥� draw this year.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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