Brent Pierce is hoping to claim this season what eluded him last year in Parksville.
The Royal City curler defeated clubmate Sean Geall 8-4 in the Page Playoff 1 vs. 2 game Saturday afternoon to advance to today’s final of the Canadian Direct Insurance B.C. Men’s Curling Championship.
Pierce — a three-time provincial men’s champion — lost the 2012 championship 7-5 to Jim Cotter, who was eliminated from the 2013 event on Saturday.
Pierce last won a B.C. crown — with Geall as his teammate — in 2009, along with Kevin Recksiedler and Mark Olson.
Recksiedler still remains as Pierce’s second, while Olson stayed on as Geall’s lead after the New Westminster-based team split.
Pierce claimed his previous two men’s titles with skip Greg McAulay back in 1998 and 2000. In the latter, the rink also went on to win the Brier (defeating Russ Howard) and World Championship (downing Peja Lindholm).
On Saturday, Pierce — whose current team is rounded out by third Jeff Richard and lead Grant Dezura — used a four-ender in the fifth to assume a 6-2 advantage on Geall on the way to the victory.
He was awaiting the winner of the Saturday evening semifinal as Geall dropped down to face Andrew Bilesky, also of the Royal City club, in the late draw (final score was unavailable by press time).
Bilesky defeated Kimberley’s Tom Buchy 8-3 in eight ends in the Page Playoff 3 vs. 4 game in the morning.
The championship final goes today at 5 p.m. at Parksville Curling Club and is slated to be broadcast on Shaw cable.
Earlier this season, Pierce defeated Geall 8-2 in the final of the Cloverdale Cash Spiel in Surrey on the World Curling Tour, but lost 7-3 to Geall at the Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic in Vernon.
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