Kelowna’s Jeff Richard overcame deficits of two twice to defeat defending champion Sean Geall of Royal City 9-8 in the British Columbia Men’s provincial final. Richard scored two in the tenth to send the game in to an extra-end and then stole the winning point.

Geall needed to draw the eight foot on his final stone of the extra-end. “We thought he had it.” Jeff Richard told Playdowns.com. “(Kevin) Recksiedler (Geall’s second) was saying he (Geall) was good, they had their brooms down and they were cleaning it the most of the way. It slid two inches too far.”

This will be Richard’s first Brier appearance along with teammates Tyler Orme and Chris Anderson. Third, Tom Shypitka, will be making his second Brier appearance after making his first with Gerry Kent in 1991.

Amber Holland and Kelly Scott were tied for fifth after Wednesday’s action. Scott kept in the hunt for with an 8-7 extra-end victory over McConnery in the evening draw. The top four teams, barring tiebreakers, advance to the Page Playoffs.

Full story via Holland keeps playoff hopes alive at Scotties.

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Krista McCarville seemed to be the team to beat heading into Wednesday’s action at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, coming off an emphatic win over Prince Edward Island that gave her sole possession of first place in the standings.

What a difference a day makes.

McCarville dropped both her games on Wednesday and fell into a tie for second place at after 14 draws at the Scotties.

Full story via The Canadian Press: McCarville drops into tie for second at 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Krista McCarville hit and stuck her final shot of the match, scoring two points in the 10th end for a 7-6 win over Valerie Sweeting’s Alberta rink in Draw 4 of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

At 2-0, the Thunder Bay foursome is just one of two remaining undefeated teams at the national women’s curling championship, being staged at the Essar Centre in Sault. Ste. Marie. Jennifer Jones, the two-time defending champion, is 3-0 after defeating Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland 7-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Full story via Hit and stick keeps McCarville undefeated – TbNewsWatch.com.

Team Jurgenson - Skip: Christine Jurgenson; Third: Cheryl Noble; Second: Pat Sanders; Lead: Roselyn Craig

Team Craig - Skip: Wes Craig; Third: Pillip Olson; Second: Blair Cusack; Lead: Tony Anslow

Christine Jurgenson didn’t need hammer in the first end. She didn’t even have hammer until the seventh end of the BC Senior Women’s provincial final. Jurgenson stole one in the second end, four more in the fourth and two in the fifth until Wendy Cseke scored one with hammer in the sixth. By this point she was up 7-1 with four ends remaining. Jurgenson’s Juan de Fuca rink gave up steals of one to Cseke in the seventh, eigth and ninth end before she ran her out of rocks in the tenth to capture the provincial championship 7-4 over previously unbeatan Cseke.

Juregenson, along with third Cheryl Noble, second Pat Sanders and lead Roselyn Craig will represent BC at the Canadian Senior Women’s Championship in Ottawa March 20-28.

Wes Craig battled through a tiebreaker and a semi-final to get into the final on the men’s side against two-time world champion Rick Folk. Folk’s Kelowna team jumped out to a 2-0 by taking two in the first end. Craig managed a three with hammer in the second end, then stole two more in the third to take a 5-2 lead after three ends. Folk closed the score to 5-4 with a two of his own in the fourth end. The Victoria team, skipped by Craig, blanked the fifth end but gave up a steal of two to Folk in the sixth end to find himself behind 6-5 after the sixth. Craig blanked the seventh, Folk stole one in the eighth end to take a 7-5 lead with two ends to play. With a score of two in the ninth end, Craig tied the game heading into the tenth. The odds were against Craig pulling out the victory without having hammer in the tenth end of a tie game. He needed to put the pressure on Folk and that’s exactly what he did. When Folk came to throw his last stone, he needed to draw the button for the win. This time though, Folks great touch eluded him as he came up a fraction short giving Craig a steal of one, an 8-7 win and the BC Senior Men’s curling championship.

Craig will be making the trip with Jurgenson to Ottawa with his third Phillip Olson, second Blair Cusack and lead Tony Anslow.

Home page photo – Krista Clarke, Copyright © Nanaimo Daily News

The Juan de Fuca Club’s Christine Jurgenson fought back from a two point defecit after two ends to thump Quesnel’s Lori Freeman 10-3 in 6 ends. Jurgenson scored four in the third end, stole three more in the fourth and finished Freeman off with another score of three in the sixth. Jurgenson’s team of third Cheryl Noble, second Pat Sanders and lead Roselyn Craig advance to play Salmon Arm’s Wendy Cseke in the final at 2:00pm on Saturday.

After winning an extra-end tiebreaker against Brian Gessner 9-7, Victoria’s Wes Craig upset Richmond’s Ken Watson 9-4 in eight ends after Watson was heavy with his final rock in the eighth end giving Craig a steal of four. Craig’s team of Phillip Olson at third, Blair Cusack at second and Tony Anslow at lead advance to the final at 2:00pm on Saturday to face Kelowna’s Rick Folk.

Dennis Graber releases his stone during Draw 7 of the BC Senior Men's Curling Championship. Photo - Krista Clarke, Copyright © Nanaimo Daily News.

Salmon Arm’s Wendy Cseke and Kelowna’s Rick Folk are off to the women’s and men’s British Columbia provincial senior finals. Both teams finished first in the round-robin and will play in the final at 2:00pm on Saturday against the winner of the semi-finals at 9:00am on Saturday.

Cseke and her team of Kate Horne at third, Gerri Kly at second and Hetty Burt at lead finished round-robin play with a 9-3 thrashing of Diane Tetreault of Oliver to improver her record to a perfect 7-0. Lori Freeman of Quesnel will face the Juan de Fuca Club’s Christine Jurgenson in the semi-final.

The men’s side is not as clear as Wes Craig, Doug Meger and Brian Gessner all finished tied for third creating two tie-breaker games to decide Saturday’s semi-finalist. Meger will face Brian Gessner after being dumped 6-2 by Ken Watson in the final draw reducing his record to 4-3. Gessner got by Wes Craig 9-7 in the final draw in a must-win game to get into a tie-breaker Friday at 2:00pm. Craig will await the winner of Meger and Gessner in the second tie-breaker Friday at 7:00pm.

Folk and Richmond’s Ken Watson finished with identical 6-1 records. Folk receives the bye to the final based on his win over Watson in Draw 5. Folk’s team of Kamloops guys with Brian Windsor at third, Dennis Graber at second and Randy Nelson at lead will face the winner of Saturday’s semi-final in the final. Watson and his team of Dale Hockley at third, Stephen Lambert at second and Mike Hanafin at lead will play in the semi-final on Saturday morning against the team that emerges from the two tie-breakers on Friday.

Photo – Krista Clarke, Copyright © Nanaimo Daily News