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Babies due soon for Kelowna rink

Jeff Richard and Dave Harper of the Geall rink are awaiting births of children while at the Brier
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Geall team members Jeff Richard (middle) and Dave Harper and their partners are expecting babies this week while playing at the Brier in Regina. -Image: Curl BC

Oh baby, this will be a most interesting for members of Kelownaѻýs Sean Geall rink.

With not one, but two team members expecting the arrival of babies this week, the chances are very high that curling fans will see fifth man Brad Wood get into some action when the Canadian menѻýs curling championship in Regina.

ѻýWeѻýre waiting on two babies, so weѻýll be a full team until we get phone calls on those,ѻý Geall told Curl BC on Thursday night, following a team supper on the eve of a first practice session on Friday.

ѻýYouѻýre either going to see a full Team BC all week long because the babies are holding off or, in a worst-case scenario, itѻýll be myself Andrew Nerpin and Woody playing as a three-man team.

ѻýItѻýs family first for us and we knew that going in and thatѻýs what weѻýll deal with. Iѻým quite positive that with two babies expected, we might see a lot of Woody.ѻý

Geallѻýs third Jeff Richard and wife Brooklyn Leitch are expecting their first child later next week and lead David Harper and wife Jessica are awaiting the arrival of their second child earlier in the week. Geall, second Nerpin, Wood and coach Gerry Richard are patiently awaiting to light their cigars.

The event features 16 teams divided into two pools of eight in the new format, which was also featured at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The top four teams in each pool advance to the championship round where teams will compete against the opposing poolѻýs four remaining teams.

The top four teamsѻýrecords will carry from the original pools to the championship roundѻýwill then advance to the Page playoffs.

Itѻýll be no picnic for Geall, who played defending champion Brad Gushue (Team Canada) in Game 1 then faced wild-card Mike McEwen on Sunday before challenging Albertaѻýs Brendan Bottcher on Monday morning.

Also joining Geall in Pool A is Nova Scotiaѻýs Jamie Murphy, Yukonѻýs Thomas Scoffin, Greg Smith of Newfoundland/Labrador and Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories.

Geall and Richard both have previous experience at Briers in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Harper was the fifth man for Jim Cotter and Co. last year, but saw limited action.

ѻýIѻým actually really optimistic. I think itѻýs a good block,ѻý Geall said of his pool. ѻýIt may look bad on Monday, with those first three games, but to be honest, even if we lost those first three we still think we can be squarely in the hunt. If we can win one or two of those first three games weѻýd be in a heck of a good spot.

ѻýOur goal is to get into that championship pool and then you see what happens after that. We have to be there and if you get a couple of wins there, maybe we can sneak into that Page 3-4 game,ѻý Geall added. ѻýSure, with a front end that hasnѻýt played at the Brier it would be unrealistic to think we could find our way into the Page 1-2 game, but hey, stranger thing shave happened.ѻý

ѻýItѻýs been a while, to be honest,ѻý Geall said, referring to his first time around at The Brier back in 2009 in Calgary. ѻýItѻýs completely different than the first time I was here. Itѻýs nice to be back in this atmosphere.ѻý

The Geall rink won the B.C. menѻýs title last month in Parksville.

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