Local curlers Bryan Kedziora and Colleen Hannah won their first B.C. Mixed Doubles title on home ice last weekend.
The pair from Golden Ears Winter Club lost only once during regular play, then blazed through the playoff round, with a 6-3 win in the quarter-finals, a 12-6 win in the semis and a decisive 8-1 win in the final against Team Miller – Victor and Kerri Miller of the Delta Curling Club.
Kedziora and Hannah will now travel to nationals in Ottawa, March 19-23 and, if successful there, to the worlds in Dumfries, Scotland.
Kedziora is a two-time B.C. junior men’s champion (2007 and 2009), while Hannah won a B.C. junior title in 1988.
Both have long connections to the Golden Ears club, and their families have been members since its beginning.
“We stayed with our game plan, which included sharing the last rock responsibility by changing our line-up every end and kept it up throughout the event,” she said.
“The competition and ice were fantastic and we were excited to win in our home club.”
Fifteen teams representing clubs in Vancouver, Maple Ridge, North Vancouver, Richmond, New Westminster, Delta, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Prince George took part.
The event in Maple Ridge was only the second B.C. Mixed Doubles Championship ever held.
The format is becoming more popular, and could even become an Olympic event in 2018.
There is one male and one female curler, and the game is played over eight ends, instead of the usual 10.
At the nationals, 32 teams will compete, with the teams divided into four round-robin pools of eight, with the top two from each pool and the next four best round-robin records moving on to the 12-team single-knockout playoff round.