Cotter eliminated at Brier

Photo: Contributed - Michael Burns

Jim Cotter's hope for another long Brier run has been dashed.

The B.C. championship rink out of the Kelowna and Vernon curling clubs fell 4-2 to Saskatchewan Friday morning in a "win and you're in, lose and you're out" game.

Cotter held held his fate and the fates of both Alberta and Quebec in his hands. A win would have meant a four-team tie-breaker.

It wasn't meant to be.

Saskatchewan won the right to have last rock and made it count, scoring a single in the second.

Cotter blanked three and four before Saskatchewan doubled the lead with a steal of one in the fifth.

From there, the teams traded singles until Saskatchewan ran Cotter out of rocks in the 10th.

Cotter's best chance to turn the game around came in the ninth.

Already sitting three with a centre-line guard in place, Cotter attempted to bury a rock near the pin with his last rock. The stone was heavy, giving Saskatchewan skip Steve Laycock a chance to draw full four foot for his single.

Cotter, last year's runner up in Kamloops, goes home with a 5-6 record.

Saskatchewan, meanwhile, heads to the playoffs with a 7-4 mark.

Northern Ontario led the pack with a 10-1 round robin record, followed by Newfoundland at 9-2.