Buchy, Richard get last provincial spots

All it took to light a fire under Jeff Richard’s Kelowna rink Sunday was a Brad Kuhn mistake.

Richard beat Kuhn’s Vernon rink 9-5 in a C final at the Interior men’s championship at McArthur island Curling Club. Richard will take part in provincials, Feb. 1-7 in Vernon, along with three other weekend qualifiers — Kelowna’s Bert Gretzinger, Nelson’s Fred Thomson, and Kimberley’s Tom Buchy.

Richard’s rink of Tom Shypitka, Tyler Orme and Chris Anderson looked pretty bad in the early going, and was trailing 3-1 after Kuhn stole two in the fourth end.

Richard’s fortunes turned in the fifth. Facing three Richard stones in the house, Kuhn tried a double knockout, but flashed, allowing Richard an easy draw for four.

All of the sudden, Richard’s rink was on fire, allowing a single in the sixth before scoring three more in the seventh. The rinks traded singles in the eighth and ninth.

“We struggled early . . . but we got a little lucky,” said Richard, whose rink went 5-4 and lost in a tiebreaker at last year’s provincials. “Brad never misses shots like that — it’s rare. But when you get an opportunity, you’ve got to take advantage of it, and we did.”

Buchy, playing his C final two sheets over from Richard, had a solid day against Vernon’s Tyrel Griffith, winning 6-2.

Griffith managed a single in the second, but didn’t score another point until the eighth. Buchy scored a deuce in the fourth, stole one in the fifth and went ahead 5-1 with a steal of two in the seventh.

“The steal in the seventh, that was probably the turning point,” said Buchy, who will be going to his fifth provincials. “That gave us good control — four up, playing eight. We were fortunate there, but when you get a steal like that, you try to take it and roll with it a bit.”

Gretzinger went 4-0 to clinch the A berth, while Thomson’s lone loss came against Gretzinger, in an A semifinal.

Rick Folk’s rink, which includes Kamloopsians Dennis Graber, Brian Windsor and Bill Johnson, went 2-3. The other Kamloops rink, Grant Olsen skipping Brendan Willis, Tobin Senum and Ron Douglas, also went 2-3.

Meanwhile, at the Coastal championship in Port Alberni, Paul Cseke of New Westminster’s Royal City grabbed the A berth, Victoria’s Jay Tuson won the B event, and Nanaimo’s Steve Waatainen and Richmond’s Greg McAulay grabbed C berths.

Those four, the Interior four, defending champion Sean Geall of New Westminster and Kelowna’s Bob Ursel, who is the Canadian Team Ranking System points leader, will make up the 10-rink draw at provincials, which will determine who represents B.C. at the Tim Hortons Brier in Halifax in March.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

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