Glen Jackson chuckles when the topic of age comes up regarding his Victoria Curling Centre rink, one of four teams to represent the area at the Canadian Direct Insurance B.C. Men’s Curling Championship in Nelson beginning today.
“We added up all of our ages and I think our average age is 30 and a half years, and I’m on the team, so that tells you how young they are,” Jackson, the 58-year-old skip who has curled for 50 years, said of his youthful squad.
Third Andrew Komlodi, second Corey Chester and lead Joel Cave round out the VCC foursome, who will open up the championship with a game at 9 a.m. against Jeff Richard of Kelowna.
“I can relate to them, although there is a big age gap,” Jackson said of his crew. “They’ve all had good experiences themselves, good opportunities in juniors and juveniles. It’s not like they haven’t been at a championship.
“Everyone knows what we’re up against. We have to go and adapt to the ice and play really well. I wouldn’t be surprised if we could be there as the week goes along,” added Jackson, who represented the province at the Brier in 2001, playing second for Dean Joanisse.
Joanisse, who now curls out of the Royal City club and is back in the 2016 championship, also won it in 2007 along with Mike Wood, Dave Nantes and Chris Atchison. That was the last Victoria rink to claim the B.C. men’s crown.
Nine years later, Jackson and fellow local skips Jason Montgomery, Wes Craig and Neil Dangerfield will try to snap that winless streak at the 16-team event that continues through to semifinals and the final on Sunday.
Dangerfield came close in 2011, losing the final to Jim Cotter of Vernon, who is the favourite again this year.
“He’s definitely the one to beat,” Dangerfield, 46, said of Cotter, the two-time defending champion, who has also claimed four of the last five provincials. “If you get a chance, you want to be able to match up well against him. We have done that in the past.
“This is certainly not an easy one to win. I’ve been beating my head at this for 25 years. Came close that once,” said Dangerfield, who has Dennis Sutton at third, Darren Boden at second and Glen Allen at lead.
“We’re going to try to get a good read on the ice and have a good first game. In the past, if we play good in that first game, we get better and it gives us a chance to qualify. Ideally you want that good start.”
Dangerfield plays local veteran Craig in their openers this morning. Craig’s crew consists of Scott MacDonald at third, second Tony Anslow and lead Victor Gamble. The team defeated Montgomery 10-7 in A event final of the Island qualifier in December in Parksville.
Dangerfield used a steal of two in the seventh end and a theft of one more in the eighth to down Montgomery 8-5 for the B event spot after squeaking by Jackson 7-6 in the game prior.
Montgomery played the Island event with Jody Epp at third, Miles Craig at second and Will Duggan at lead, but did not qualify until the Men’s Open in January in Salmon Arm with a crew that included Miles Craig at third, second Cameron de Jong and lead Dave McGarry.
Montgomery qualified out of the A event, defeating Jackson 8-6 in the final. Jackson then rebounded to take the B qualifier 11-7 over Will House of Richmond.
Montgomery — who lost the B.C. final 11-2 to Cotter (with John Morris at skip) in 2014 — opens this morning against Chase Martyn of the Royal City club.
EXTRA ENDS: Victoria’s Chris Baier is playing third for Michael Johnson’s Royal City rink. The semifinal and championship game will be broadcast on Sportsnet.
