After all the curling draws were finished in Kimberley, Cranbrook's very own Tom Shypitka, who skips a team comprised of Josh Firman and Greg Terrill from Creston, and Steve Tersmette of Kimberley, earned one of two qualifying spots in their quest to represent the province at the next Tim Horton's Briers tournament.

Local Kimberlites Tom Buchy and Dave Toffolo, along with teammates Ken McHargue of Elkford and Fernie's Darren Will won the other qualifier, as both teams will head down to Parksville in February to compete for the provincial representation honour.

The Buchy team powered their way to one of the qualifying spots with a 4-0 win streak.

Shypitka's rink, took what second Tersmette called the "warrior's route," winning their first game, losing the next two, but wrapping up with four straight wins to earn the second qualifier opening.

"It was a little tough, we're still a new team but we know we got guys who can throw stones so it's just a matter of playing well together as a team," said Tersmette. "We got better as the weekend went on and won the games with our backs against the wall."

Shypitka has spent the last few seasons curling with Jeff Richards out of Kelowna, taking a trip to the 2010 Briers, and also went 20 years ago in 1991, but initially wanted to call it quits after last year, according to Tersmette.

"At the end of last curling season, he'd sort of made up his mind that that was going to be it for competitive curling," said Tersmette. "…I caught up with Tom in the summer and told him that we had a provincial qualifier right in Kimberley that piqued his interest. He came on board and skipped and [we] kept the other two guys around so we played well."

The Shypitka team has had to juggle their own lives in different towns in the region, as well as finding time to play and practice in between league games.

"That's the toughest part out here, you're bringing guys in from small towns and you're trying to put a team together where guys are having to travel and getting in practice times and games can be a challenge, but we found a way to make it work and we've made the commitment to do it." said Tersmette.

Nine different teams from the East and West Kootenay converged on the Kimberley Curling Club for a weekend bonspiel to play for the two qualifying spots.

The field included Nelson curler Fred Thomson, a former B.C. champion who went to the Briers in 2005 and has made two appearances in past Canadian Mixed Championships.