Richmond Curling Club rinks narrowly missed earning provincial berths at last weekend’s 11-team Lower Mainland Playdowns in Tsawwassen.
A pair of RCC entries reached event finals only to be denied.
Cody Tanaka was coming off a busy November that saw him help Vic Shimizu’s RCC team capture the Canadian Club Challenge in New Brunswick and earn tournament MVP honours. He also skipped a B.C. rink at the Canadian Mixed Championships in Winnipeg.
His team got off to an impressive start at Tunnel Town, producing victories over Cloverdale’s Brad Rebman (8-2) and Golden Ears’ Dean Joanisse on Friday to secure a spot in Saturday’s “A” Event final. Tanaka made a big comeback against Joanisse, scoring four in the ninth end to erase a 5-4 deficit against the two-time former B.C. champion.
Tanaka’s first opportunity at nailing down a B.C. berth ended with a a 6-2 loss to Daniel Wenzek. The Langley rink took control with three in the sixth.
It was then off to the “B” Event semi-finals later that afternoon and a rematch with Joanisse.
This time, his team fell behind 4-1 in the early going and surrendered five more over the final two ends in a 9-3 defeat. Joanisse went on to win the “B” Event.
Tanaka still had one more shot in the “C” Event and opened up play Sunday morning with a 7-5 win over Abbotsford’s Dayne Gagnon. However, the B.C. bid ended with a 6-4 semi-final defeat to Stephen Schneider in an all-RCC match-up.
Schneider went on to fall to Royal City’s Tyler Klymchuk. His journey also included a 6-2 defeat to Joanisse earlier on Sunday in the “B” Event final after wins over Rebman and Klymchuk.
RCC’s third entry was Team Bourdage which was eliminated after three straight defeats.