Pierce to battle Martin in opening draw
New Westminster’s Brent Pierce will face a formidable foe in his first match at the 2012 Westcoast Curling Classic at the Royal City Curling Club this weekend.
Pierce will take on 2010 Olympic gold medallist, 2008 world champion, and four-time Canadian champion Kevin Martin of Edmonton on Friday at 2 p.m. On top of all those credentials, Martin has won the last two WCC championships, five of the last seven, and six overall.
This year, Martin’s 12-year-old son Karrick will be throwing lead stones for another Edmonton rink skipped by Brendan Bottcher, who plays his first game against former world champ David Nedohin of Edmonton at 11 a.m. That draw also features another world champion, Kevin Koe, who takes on Steve Laycock of Saskatoon, and two RCCC skips, Jay Wakefield and Sean Geall, facing off against each other.
With only 18 teams participating this year, the $52,000 event will have them broken up into three round-robin divisions with eight teams advancing to the championship round Sunday.
Martin and Pierce’s group also contains Brier finalist William Lyburn of Winnipeg. The semifinals (10 a.m.) and final (1 p.m.) will be played Monday.
Martin, with his Olympic team of third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert, will take on Kelowna’s Jim Cotter in a skins game on Thursday starting at 7:30 p.m.
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