Four years ago, Bill Cameron and his Prince George crew were curling neophytes, absolute beginners in the sport.
Now they're provincial men's qualifiers, and in two months they'll be taking on some of the best curlers in the world.
Cameron and his team of third Cale Rusnell, second London Blundell and lead Mike Hansen earned that right Sunday morning when they defeated Nigel McInnis 10-4 in the third and deciding game of the Northern men's playdowns and Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
After winning the first game 9-3 Saturday morning, then dropping the afternoon rematch 11-5, Cameron didn't waste time getting the jump on McInnis with three consecutive steals, scoring singles in the second and third ends leading up to a three-ender in the fourth that pretty much put the game out of reach.
"Everybody on the team was dialed in this last game and made their hits and we got the lead and held onto it," said Cameron, 29, a fifth-place finisher at last year's Kelly Cup men's championship. "Provincials is going to be interesting. We're going to be playing some teams that are on TV right now at Olympic trials.
"We've only been curling for four years. We weren't playing our other competitive sports as much and we have family and friends who were curling, so we formed a team and it's been tons of fun. It's always good to beat the good teams."
They'll have to knock off some juggernauts to get to the Brier. Jim Cotter of Vernon, who lost the Olympic qualifier Sunday to Brad Jacobs, plans to be in Vancouver, Feb. 4-9, to try to win the B.C. championship.
Cameron was showing four counters in the fourth when James Blanchett, throwing skip rocks for McInnis, hit and rolled out with his second shot. That allowed Cameron to steal three and take a 5-0 lead.
"We were just trying to get one in, but they kept hitting and sticking and rolling and my second shot just rolled out in that spot where we've been struggling," said Blanchett.
Down 6-2 in the seventh, Blanchett scored two to make it interesting. The handshakes were extended after the eighth end when Cameron knocked an eight-foot biter out of the back ring and scored four more.
Blanchett took over skip rock duties from McInnis for the second game. The team also includes second Lyle Hensrud of Mackenzie and lead Jason Dalio. Chris Calder, who normally plays skip, was unavailable due to work commitments in Vancouver.
"Bill played really good and we all struggled," said Blanchett. "A bit of that was the ice conditions, there were spots that were really difficult to call. It seemed it was their weekend, plain and simple."
The McInnis rink is the first Prince George men's team to qualify for the provincial championship since Michael Dahms advanced through the zone and regional playdowns in 2008. Blanchett played third and Hensrud was second for Dahms that year.
Rusnell is the husband of Jen Rusnell, who plays second for Patti Knezevic's women's team, which has already qualified for the 2014 Scotties B.C. women's provincial championship, Jan. 6-12 at P.G. Golf and Curling Club.
Two of the skips entered the Northern zone event -- Scott Sherba and Tim Hamilton -- were unable to field teams at the last minute.
