Two B.C. men’s curling teams have booked their ticket to the 2017 belairdirect B.C. Men’s Curling Championship, including Team Joanisse from Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge and Team Geall from Kelowna Curling Club have earned their berths by collecting CTRS (Canadian Team Ranking System) points.
The teams were the top two B.C. men’s rinks on the nation-wide CTRS list, after Team Cotter/Morris, who have a guaranteed berth because they are the defending B.C. champions.
Team Joanisse features Abbotsford-based skip Dean Joanisse, who is the manager of the Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge. He is joined by third Paul Cseke, of Victoria, second Jay Wakefield and lead John Cullen, who both live in Vancouver.
The team won provincial silver in 2015 and provincial bronze in 2016.
The 2017 belairdirect BC Men’s Curling Championship, which will take place at Abbotsford Curling Club from Feb. 8-12, 2017.
It will showcase the top 12 men’s teams from across the province and will decide the BC team that will go on to compete at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, representing B.C. in St John’s, Newfoundland, from March 4-12.
A total of four games from the provincials will be televised on Shaw TV on Feb. 11 and 12.
Defending champions Team Cotter, will be joined by 2010 Olympic gold medallist John Morris (Canmore, Alberta) at the Abbotsford event. Morris replaced Ryan Kuhn, who did not rejoin Team Cotter this season.
The final nine berths will go to winners of four regional playdowns and one open playdown. The regional playdowns will take place in Trail, Enderby, Victoria and Maple Ridge from Dec. 9-11.