Team B.C. from the Vernon Curling Club finished with a 3-5 record at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary, and in 7th place in Pool A, after a 7-5 loss to Brendan Bottcher of Alberta in the final pool game.

pic.twitter.com/6wFbLUhPIL

— Team Cotter (@TeamJimCotter) March 15, 2021

UPDATE 11:00 a.m. Mar. 11 Vernon team gets third win but eliminated at Tim Hortons Brier

Jim Cotter’s Vernon team at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary improved to 3 and 4 with a 7-4 win over Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson in Draw 16.

However, Alberta’s win over Yukon in the same draw eliminated the B.C. team from playoff contention.

Cotter, who is making his 10th Brier appearance, along with team members Steve Laycock, Andrew Nerpin and Rick Sawatsky, close out against Alberta at 5:30 p.m.

Wayne Middaugh skipped his wild card team from Ontario to a berth in the championship round with a win over Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs.

UPDATE 3:00 p.m Mar. 10

Team B.C. defeated Gregory Skauge of the Northwest Territories 10-5 in Draw 14 to improve to 2-4 at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.

Steve Laycock’s B.C. team from the Vernon Curling Club will play Jason Gunnlaugson of Manitoba (5-1) at 7:30 a.m. Thursday Mar. 11.

UPDATE 9:00 p.m. Mar. 9 Vernon team falls to 1-4 at Tim Hortons Brier

Team B.C. from the Vernon Curling Club fell to 1 win and four losses at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary after a 4-3 loss to Glenn HOward’s wild card team from Ontairo.

Wayne Middaugh, the three-time world champion who is skipping the Ontario team, scored two in the 10th end to improve to 4-1.

The B.C. team, with Vernon’s Jim Cotter, will play Gregory Skauge of the Northwest Territories at 12:30 p.m. Mar. 10.

UPDATE 11:00 a.m. Mar. 9 Vernon team loses key game after measurement at Tim Hortons Brier

Team B.C. suffered a heartbreaking loss at the Tim Hortons Brier Tuesday morning, 8-7 to Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario.

The result came down to a measurement after Jacobs’s final shot in the 10th end that gave his team two for the win, instead of one which would have forced an extra end.

Team B.C. form the Vernon Curling Club, led by Jim Cotter and Steve Laycock is now 1-3, and will play Glenn Howard’s wildcard team from Ontario at 5:30 p.m. B.C. time.

Hanging in the players’ area behind the scenes are a few posters of past champions. How many teams and athletes can you name?#Brier2021 pic.twitter.com/XJAUTiT89L

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) March 9, 2021

UPDATE 3:00 p.m.

The Vernon team at the Tim Horton’s Brier got its first win, 9-2 over the Yukon in a game called after 8 ends, to improve to 1 and 2 in the 18-team event in Calgary.

The next game for Jim Cotter and Steve Laycock’s B.C. team will be against Brad Jacobs and Northern Ontario Tuesday.

Tyler Tardi, 22, from Cloverdale B.C., played in his first game for the B.C. team.

Tyler’s thoughts after throwing his first ever rocks at a @TimHortons Brier! #TheBigShow #Brier2021 @CurlBC @TardiParty @TeamJimCotter pic.twitter.com/ykAZAElJp5

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) March 8, 2021

Original story 10:40 a.m.

Team British Columbia is hoping to turn its fortunes around today at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.

Steve Laycock’s squad from the Vernon Curling Club started off the bubble event Saturday with a 7-5 loss to Oromocto, New Brunswick’s James Gratton, followed by a 10-7 loss to one of the wild card teams skipped by Mike McEwen of Winnipeg.

Tonight marks the 100th @timhortons Brier game for Rick Sawatzky, Steve Laycock and Jim Cotter. Congratulations on this incredible accomplishment! 💯 #Brier2021 pic.twitter.com/aQjxIvePyi

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) March 7, 2021

B.C.’s team, which includes Laycock (from Saskatoon) as skip, Jim Cotter (Vernon) at third, Andrew Nerpin (Kelowna) at second and Rick Sawatsky (Kelowna) at lead, takes on Dustin Mikkelsen of Whitehorse, Yukon (0-3) at 12:30 this afternoon (B.C. time).

A milestone was celebrated Saturday for Sawatsky, Cotter and Laycock who played in their 100th Brier game.

“Congratulations on this incredible accomplishment!,” a tweet from Curling Canada said.

Cotter, Sawatsky and Laycock are competing in their 10th Briers.

Kevin Koe of Edmonton, a four-time Brier winner as a skip, leads the standings of Pool B at 4-0, while Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg and Glenn Howard of Ontario are on top of Pool A at 2-0.

We've got two great shots to select from today for #AGITopShots @AgGrowthIntl

Vote for your favourite in the poll at the end of this thread. #Brier2021

First, this wild around the horn shot from @CurlingNL's @TeamGregSmithNL pic.twitter.com/yLEXDmjFju

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) March 8, 2021

The Brier is being held at WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park in a strictly enforced, no-fans bubble.

The winning team will return to the bubble in Calgary to represent Canada at the 2021 BKT Tires/OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship April 2-11.

The field was expanded to 18 teams for this year to accommodate teams that didn’t get an opportunity to compete for their provincial or territorial championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The teams are in two pools of nine, seeded based on their final standing in the 2019-20 Canadian Team Ranking System.

They are playing a full round robin within their respective pools, and then the top four teams in each pool will move on to the championship pool, and play four more games against the teams from the other pool. Their preliminary pool records will be carried forward.

From there, the top three teams will make the playoffs; the first-place team after the championship pool will go straight to the gold-medal game (March 14, 5:30 p.m.), while the second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinal (March 14, 11:30 a.m.)

The four-team Page Playoff format couldn’t be used because it takes two extra draws, and with the field expansion, there wasn’t time available in the schedule, and it would have forced teams to play more games in a limited amount of time.

by Pete McIntyre

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