This time, the Michael Dahms rink is ready to roll.
And hit, for that matter.
Dahms and his Prince George Golf and Curling Club crew of J.T. Blanchett, Chris Calder and Matt Gyorfi will toss granite in a Curl B.C. men's interior playdown, Friday to Sunday at the PGGCC. In the eight-team field, the top two finishers will advance to provincials, Feb. 7-13 in Vernon.
In December, Dahms and company posted a 1-2 record at an interior playdown in Kamloops and failed to grab one of two berths to the B.C.'s. Leading up to that bonspiel, they hadn't played together all season because Dahms was living and working in Edmonton and Calder was traveling the world.
Now, with the last-chance qualifier ready to hit the ice, Dahms said his team is much more prepared for action.
"In the new year we've been practicing every weekend and playing the [Jennifer Fewster rink], prepping them for their provincials, so we've had a couple games with them as well," Dahms said. "As a team we're definitely more prepared and myself, I feel more confident out there than I did earlier."
The other rinks that will be on PGGCC ice are skipped by Brent Giles (Kelowna), Tom Buchy (Kimberley), Tyrel Griffith (Vernon), Trevor Perepolkin (Vernon), John Pierce (Smithers), Michael Smith (Kamloops) and Brent Yamada (Kamloops).
In the triple-knockout event, Dahms's first game is at 9 a.m. Friday against Giles.
"We've beat Giles in the past but he was skipping a different team," Dahms said. "He's got three young guys playing for him this year. I think they lost two-straight [in Kamloops] so they were out early. They'll probably be looking for a little blood."
In Dahms's opinion, the Buchy rink may be the top contender this weekend. But Dahms also noted that all the teams are experienced and capable of winning games. That said, he likes his rink's chances of nailing down a top-two finish.
"We've played them all before so we're not going to be surprised by any of them," Dahms said. "We know what to expect. We know that if we can stick to our team game plan and play well that we have a chance to beat any one of those other teams."
Provincials will determine the B.C. representative at the Tim Hortons Brier, March 5-13 in London, Ont.
