With a Friday night win, Brent Yamada would have advanced to provincials in the minimum three games.
Instead, Yamada was on the wrong end of a 9-8 score and had to accept the fact that his opponent, Tom Buchy, was the owner of the B.C. berth. Yamada ended up having to play four more games at the Curl B.C. men's interior playdown. His last one, Sunday afternoon at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, gave him a spot in the B.C. tournament, Feb. 7-13 in Vernon.
In the clincher, Yamada and his Kamloops-based rink beat Vernon's Trevor Perepolkin 5-4 in an extra end. In the 11th, Yamada had a stone in the back four-foot and saw a Perepolkin draw slide too deep in the house. That left the button open, and Yamada played a perfect draw for the win.
Earlier Sunday, Yamada also defeated Perepolkin in 11 ends. The score in that one was 8-7 and if Yamada had lost, he would have been eliminated from the eight-team, triple-knockout tournament.
Buchy, from Kimberley, finished at 3-0 and Yamada went 5-2. Buchy picked up other victories against Michael Smith of Kamloops (7-4) and Brent Giles of Kelowna (8-5). Yamada's other loss was an 8-3 setback against Perepolkin on Saturday afternoon.
A Prince George rink skipped by Michael Dahms was entered in the interior event but didn't fare well. Dahms and teammates J.T. Blanchett, Chris Calder and Matt Gyorfi lost three consecutive games on Friday and were done for the rest of the weekend. Dahms fell 9-4 to Giles, 9-2 to Smith and 9-8 in an extra end to John Pierce of Smithers.
The Canadian Direct Insurance B.C. Championship is a qualifier for the Tim Hortons Brier, March 5-13 in London, Ont.
