Jim Cotter struggled to find draw weight in his debut at the 2014 Kamloops Brier, but he had it when it mattered most.
Tied 6-6 against Alberta’s Kevin Koe on Saturday, March 1, the Kamloops native made a pair of perfect draws — one down onto the face of a Koe stone at the back of the button, the other a stone at the top of the eight-foot — to help B.C. steal a point and grab the 7-6 victory.
“Bit of a barn-burner to start the Brier,” skip John Morris said after the game.
“I think for both teams, it probably wasn’t our best game, but I think it’s hard to be perfect right out of the gate at the Brier,” he continued. “You never want to be tied without the hammer coming home, but that was our best end, we saved it for last.”
It was the first game of the 2014 Brier and Cotter’s first in front of a hometown crowd. The 39 year old was born and raised in Kamloops, though he now makes his home in Vernon. He has represented B.C. at the Brier five times.
“It was pretty neat, playing in a hometown, of course,” Cotter said, after the tenth end. “One thing with our team, is when we hit the ice, we just focus on our sheet and we just do everything we can to make shots, just take care of the little things.”
Cotter struggled with his draw weight early on, most notably coming up short with his last rock in the third end — he needed full-12 to score one, facing two Alberta stones — and giving up a steal of two and a 4-2 lead to Koe.
Cotter was 76 per cent on draws in the first game.
But when it came down to his last two in the final end, Cotter found his weight and stole the victory for B.C.
“The ice was good,” he said. “We got caught on a couple spots — just little fresh spots — when we gave up the steal of two there.
“First game, you’re out there learning, there’s a lot to learn.”
“I’m really excited for Jimmy, having grown up here,” Morris said. “This is his hometown, so I think this is a real special Brier for him.”
Alberta and B.C. traded deuces in the first two ends, before Koe stole a pair in the third. After blanking the fourth end, Cotter made a hit in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead into the fifth-end break.
Koe scored another deuce in six and Cotter took a single in eight and again in 10.
“That’s a big win to come out of the gate, especially against a real tough team like Alberta,” Morris said. “We’ve got to regroup and come out a little stronger tonight because that Northern Ontario team looks like they’re playing really well.”
The Morris rink is trying to become the first B.C. team to win the Brier since Greg McAuley’s squad did it in 2000. B.C. has captured the Brier tankard just four times in the tournament’s history, dating back to 1927.
This year’s Brier is the first that will result in the winner being named Team Canada, representing the nation at the 2015 Brier in Calgary. Team Canada will join Alberta and 10 other rinks — Alberta has a guaranteed spot at the host province — with the first nine Brier berths going to the provinces with the most round-robin Brier victories in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The three teams with the fewest victories in those tournaments will enter a preliminary tournament with Nunavut — new to the Brier in 2015 — with the winner taking the 12th and final spot.
To start the 2014 Brier, Yukon has zero victories, while B.C., Nova Scotia and P.E.I. all have five. Morris will be looking to keep B.C. out of the preliminary tournament with their performance this week.
Elsewhere in Draw 1, Northern Ontario defeated New Brunswick 11-5 in eight ends, Newfoundland and Labrador defeated Nova Scotia 7-2 in nine ends and manitoba defeated P.E.I. 7-5 in 10.
Cotter and Team B.C. are back at it at 6:30 p.m. against Northern Ontario.
