At the Kootenay regional curling playdowns in Kimberley on the weekend, the Rob Ferguson rink from Trail lost its bid to curl in the provincial championship.
Ferguson dropped the semifinal game of the B Event to the Tom Shypitka rink from Creston 8-4 on Monday.
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first end, Shypitka blanked the second, took three in the third and stole one in the fourth to take a commanding 4-1 lead.
Ferguson scored one in the fifth but Shypitka replied with three in the sixth to put the game out of reach and secure a spot in the B-final against the Fred Thomson rink from Nelson.
In the round robin, Ferguson suffered an 8-2 loss to Super League rival Thomson, and a 9-5 setback to the Marks rink. They then won their next two defeating the Ron Buchy rink from Creston 7-1 and Nelson’s Brent Pihowich foursome 8-4 to advance to the semifinal against Shypitka.
The Tom Buchy rink cruised through the round-robin undefeated and faced the Thomson rink in the A qualifier. Thomson held a 6-5 lead after seven ends but Buchy scored two in the eighth to go up 7-6. Thomson tied it in the ninth but Buchy counted two in the 10th end to finish a perfect 4 and 0 and qualify for the provincials.
The Thomson rink with Trail’s Don Freschi throwing third stones, met Shypitka in the B-final Monday afternoon.
Thomson jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but then gave up a four-ender in the second. He battled hard closing the gap to one but the teams exchanged single points in the final five ends and Shypitka held on for the 7-6 victory.
The Buchy and Shypitka rinks advance to the 2012 B.C. Men’s Curling Championship in Parksville, Feb. 6-12.