Dennis Graber's Kamloops/Prince George rink wasn't even a rink two months ago.

On Sunday, it became a provincial champion.

Graber's gang won the B.C. senior men's curling championship in Kelowna, beating New Westminster's Doug Meger 7-4 in Sunday's final. Graber will represent B.C. at the Canadian senior men's championship in Abbotsford from March 17-25.

It was a great week for the Graber rink, which features Kamloops' Brian Windsor, who threw fourth stones, along with second Garnet Boese and lead David Johnston, both of Prince George.

Windsor and Graber - who have been a tandem for seven or eight years, Windsor figured - got a bit of a late start to the senior season, and were looking for a couple of teammates. Graber and Boese were familiar with one another, so the two men from Prince George joined the two men from Kamloops.

"We only had one practice weekend," explained Windsor, "then we did playdowns (Jan. 14-15) and provincials."

It must have been a brilliant practice weekend, as the Graber crew was excellent at provincials, going 6-1 to finish first in the round-robin and go directly to the final.

Meger, meanwhile, was 4-3 in the round-robin, so had to win a tiebreaker on Saturday along with Sunday's semifinal.

But it was Meger who drew the first real blood in Sunday's final - he scored three in the sixth end to go ahead 4-1.

It didn't bother the Graber rink, although it gave it something of a kickstart.

"Our plan was to be fairly cautious and try to keep the hammer advantage," Windsor said. "The ice conditions were difficult . . . and we were determined to be patient, unless we were behind.

"Unfortunately, we got behind."

The seventh was the "key end," Windsor said, and Graber picked up a deuce to make it 4-3.

Graber went on to steal two in the eighth, and then another deuce in the ninth, when Meger came up short on a draw on a slow path.

"It was the slowest path on the sheet, and we knew that . . ." Windsor said. "He had to get the full eight-foot, and 95 per cent of the time, he would have made the shot. But it was such a slow path, it stopped short."

Once Graber ran Meger out of rocks in the 10th end, there wasn't a huge celebration on the ice.

"It was relief," Windsor said. "That 10th end got a little tense . . . we missed a peel and we didn't want to give up three and go to an extra end.

"It looked like it was possible, but once it was over, we were pretty excited."

It will be the first Canadian senior championship for Windsor, 52, who has been to a Brier national men's championship (with Graber in 2006) and two Canadian mixed championships (in 1991 and 2004). Graber, along with being at the 2006 Brier in Regina, also attended the 1982 Brier in Brandon, and won a provincial senior men's title alongside Kelowna's Rick Folk in 2007.

The rink hasn't determined whether it will meet up before nationals next month, but there's a pretty good chance. The men don't want to disappoint the B.C. fans.

"It's a new one for me," Windsor said, "being at a national championship with a hometown crowd.

"But Abbotsford's a good town and it's a good facility . . . very good ice."

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca