Team B.C. head to the Brier looking to take home the Tankard Trophy

Okanagan curling fans may know the British Columbia contingent headed to the Tim Horton’s Brier on Saturday in Kingston, Ontario, as the Rick Cotter rink.

But the man calling the shots won’t be Vernon’s Rick Cotter, in fact, the skip of Team B.C. doesn’t even live in the province.

“I’m the imported, hired gun,” Steve Laycock told Global News.

Laycock is from Saskatoon but he’ll still skip the B.C. boys when they step on to Canada’s biggest stage of curling.

1:53 2020 Brier organizer says preparations are ahead of schedule

Not from B.C. you say, how is that possible?

Well thanks to Curling Canada’s relatively new non-resident rules, elite teams are allowed one foreign import from outside the Member Association.

And Team B.C. is elite. Together the four curlers that make up the rink Steve Laycock (skip, third), Jim Cotter (fourth), Andrew Nerpin (second) and Rick Sawatsky (lead) have almost 30 years of Brier experience.

While Team B.C. admits that the microscope of bright lights and T.V. cameras focused on the Brier can be an intimidating pressure cooker, this veteran team thrives on it.

0:43 Rick Sawatsky on the Brier coming to Kelowna

“We don’t really see it as a negative, we sort of embrace it and enjoy playing in these situations,” Rick Sawatsky said.

Like all tournaments, Sawatsky says one of the keys to success at the Brier is peaking at the right time. After winning the provincials in Cranbrook last month, Team B.C. seems to be doing just that.

“We have played our best so far this year and we keep trending upward so that’s promising,” Sawatsky said.

Both Sawatsky and Cotter have been bridesmaids at the Brier before but have never taken home the Tankard Trophy.

1:38 Tim Horton’s Brier to come to Kelowna in 2021

This year, the team is looking to change that.

“Our goal for this Brier is to make that championship pool and make playoffs and the take it one step at a time from there,” said Laycock.

Something Steve Laycock says Team B.C. is totally capable of.

“We’ve played all these teams, they’re great teams but we’ve beaten them all in the past,” Laycock said.

2:01 As the 2020 Brier gets ever closer Global News looks back at Kingston’s curling history

Team BC takes to the ice to open the Brier at 2 p.m. (EST)  on Saturday, when they will look to drop the hammer on the Northwest Territories.