B.C.'s wheelchair curling team will take its best shot at a national title this weekend.
The rink finished round-robin play Friday with a 6-3 record at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling championship in Boucherville, Que., to earn the third playoff spot in the Page playoff format.
The rink - skipped by Gerry Austgarden from Kelowna - includes third Darryl Neighbour of Richmond, second Frank LaBounty from Prince George and lead Allison Duddy of Quesnel. The foursome will play the winner between Saskatchewan and Ontario in the third versus fourth playoff game today at 3 p.m.
Saskatchewan, skipped by Darwin Bender, and Ontario, led by Chris Rees, finished tied for fourth with 5-4 records and will play in a tiebreaker game at 7 a.m. to determine the fourth and final playoff berth.
Host Quebec, skipped by Benoit Lessard, finished atop the round-robin with an 8-1 record, followed by Dennis Thiessen's Manitoba foursome in second place with a 6-3 record. Those two rinks will meet today at 11 a.m. The winner will advance straight to Sunday's championship final. The loser will meet the winner between B.C. and the fourth-place team in Sunday's semifinal.
On Friday, B.C. went 1-1 to wrap up its round-robin, with a 10-2 win against New Brunswick and an 8-2 loss to Quebec.
Against New Brunswick, Austgarden stole five points in the fourth end and three points with hammer in the sixth en route to the win.
Earlier Friday, Quebec rolled to four points with the hammer in the second end and stole single points in the third and fourth ends in its win against B.C. Austgarden countered with singles in the first and fifth ends.
The championship final is at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
