It’s been a heck of a two-week run at the Richmond Curling Centre for Cody Tanaka.
The Tsawwassen native and Tunnel Town Curling Club product skipped his rink to victory at the AMJ Campbell Van Lines B.C. Mixed Curling Championship. Team Tanaka defeated Royal City Curling Club’s Team Pierce 6-3 in Sunday’s gold medal game.
The event featured teams of four players, two male and two female, playing with the traditional rules of curling in a nine-team triple knockout tournament.
Tanaka was joined by another hometown standout — Shawna Jensen at third — along with his longtime teammate Travis Cameron at second and Catera Park at lead. Park also played third for Victoria’s Taylor Reese-Hansen’s rink which won the B.C. Junior Women’s Championship back in December.
Team Tanaka secured a spot in the playoff round with an 8-5 win over Team Horning from Castlegar on Saturday morning. He then advanced to the final with an 8-3 win over Pierce, avenging a 7-1 defeat on Friday in qualifying play.
Pierce rebounded with a victory against Team Craig from Vancouver Island to play for gold.
Tanaka took control by scoring three in the second end then opened up a 5-1 advantage with two more in the fourth. He closed out the win with a single in the seventh.
Team Tanaka will now represent B.C. at the 2019 Canadian Mixed Curling Championships, slated for November at the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg.
A week earlier, Tanaka threw final stones for Vic Schmizu’s rink which became the first team from the host Richmond Curling Centre to win the men’s title in the 19-year history of the Pacific International Cup.
The event features a B.C. and International Division with the two winners meeting for the PIC title. The Richmond rink cruised past Arizona in the championship game.
The Richmond team finished second in round-robin play then defeated Kamloops to advance to the B.C. final against Langley’s Darren Frycz.
It was 6-6 in the eighth and final end when Tanaka continued his clutch play with two perfectly thrown rocks. It left Frycz with a very difficult final shot which over-curled, allowing RCC to steal two for the win.
The victory also earned Tanaka another trip in November, this time to the Travelers National Curling Club Championships in New Brunswick, two weeks after the Canadian Mixed Championships.
