Team Craig has won bronze at the 2023 AMJ Campbell BC Mixed Championships in Penticton.
The defending provincial mixed curling champions, skipped by Cowichan’s Miles Craig, had hoped to repeat in 2023 but it wasn’t meant to be, said the skip last week.
Craig’s team had five wins and three losses overall at the event, which ran at the Penticton Curling Club March 2-5.
Joining the skip on Team Craig are third Steph Jackson Baier and second Chris Baier of Victoria, and lead Carley Sandwith-Craig of Cowichan.
“We lost in the semi-final to the team that eventually won the event,” Craig said. “It was a close game. It came down to the last shot and it could have gone either way.”
Ultimately a team from the Victoria Curling Club beat Craig’s rink three times along its route to the final and to keeping the provincial championship title on Vancouver Island.
In their first game, Craig’s rink faced the Tersmette rink made up of curlers from Kimberly, Cranbrook and Campbell River. Craig’s rink prevailed 4-3.
Up next Team Craig faced the eventual champions led by skip Cameron de Jong of the Victoria Curling Club. The Victoria rink won 7-5.
The loss pitted Craig’s rink against Kimberly’s Tom Buchy and crew in their third draw of the tournament. Craig won that match 6-4.
Then, Craig’s rink faced the Cody Tanaka rink from Richmond and Royal City curling clubs. Once again, Craig prevailed 7-6.
That win set the stage for a rematch against de Jong, with the de Jong rink blowing Craig away 7-1.
Not a team to give up easily, Craig’s rink then bounced back to beat the Buchy rink, 5-2, in the seventh draw.
The win over Buchy sent Craig to the ‘C’ qualifier, where the rink beat Tanaka 8-0, paving the Duncan team’s way to the semi-final.
Unfortunately once again, his team came up against de Jong. It seemed de Jong had Team Craig’s number as they were the only team to beat the Craig rink all tournament.
Ultimately the Victoria rink beat Craig’s for the third time in the tournament, this time 5-3 in the semi-finals, to end Craig’s quest for back-to-back championships.
With the result, Craig’s rink placed third overall.
“I struggled reading the ice all weekend,” admitted the skip. “We never really brought our best game out. So that was disappointing, but I am pleased with the fact we fought through all that and managed to get a bronze medal in a really tough field.”
Craig said the curling club provincial championships are next where he’ll play on a team with his dad, Wes Craig.