Two rinks with very different backstories earned the final provincial berths from the SaskTel Men鈥檚 Provincial Northern Qualifier Sunday afternoon.
Lashburn鈥檚 Ryan Armstrong and Saskatoon鈥檚 Scott Bitz both earned their tickets to the tankard, which will take place in Tisdale from Feb. 1 to 5, following dramatic 6-5 鈥楥鈥� event wins at the Twin Rivers Curling Club.
Armstrong, who is joined on his rink by third Mike Robson, second Tyson Armstrong and lead Allen Dmytryshyn, needed a draw to the four-foot on his final shot in the tenth end to defeat Wadena鈥檚 Scott Comfort.
鈥淲hen the year began, our goal was to make the provincials,鈥� Armstrong said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a second-year team and we鈥檝e made a lot of progress, especially after we got used to having Allen as our new lead.
鈥淭his will be my first time at provincials and I鈥檓 really looking forward to it.鈥�
The key difference in a back-and-forth affair came in the eighth end, when Armstrong picked up three points to take a 5-4 lead.
鈥淲e played a really good end in the sixth but I was heavy on a draw that would have given us two points, and then I left Scott an easy shot for two in the seventh,鈥� Armstrong said.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have anything going in the eighth until our third (Robson) made a really good shot on his. Scott鈥檚 last shot ran a little straight on him, so we were a little bit fortunate to have a shot at three. I made sure to tell the guys though that I wasn鈥檛 going to miss another draw before I shot it.
Meanwhile on the other sheet, Bitz also drew to the four-foot on his final shot to edge out fellow Sutherland Curling Club member Tyler Travis.
鈥淥ur weekend was kind of here and there,鈥� Bitz said. 鈥淲e had some good ends where we built up some momentum, but then we had some other ends that were kind of disastrous, but that鈥檚 how curling goes some times.
鈥淲e got off to a good start and I felt like we were controlling things really well, but we had couple of rocks pick on us in the fourth and eighth end, which was unfortunate. The same thing happened on their last as well in the tenth, otherwise I would have had a much more difficult shot on my final shot. However, it was an evenly matched game and we had a chance to win on the last shot of the game, which is what we were hoping for.鈥�
Bitz, who won a provincial title as a skip in 2002 and was the third on Joel Jordison鈥檚 championship rink in 2009, had a slightly different squad than usual this weekend.
While he was joined by his regular third Warren Jackson and second Aryn Schmidt, Jayden Shwaga was filling in at lead for Dean Kleiter.
鈥淒ean鈥檚 coaching his son Rylan this week at the Canadian Juniors out in British Columbia, so were lucky enough to have his nephew Jayden join us,鈥� Bitz said.
鈥淚 guess we鈥檒l have to discuss what the lineup will be at the provincials in a couple of weeks, but we鈥檒l wait and see how the guys do at juniors first and we鈥檒l go from there.鈥�
Armstrong and Bitz joined Drew Heidt鈥檚 North Battleford rink and Brady Sharback鈥檚 Saskatoon foursome in earning provincial berths at the event.
The 麻豆视频ern Qualifier also took place on the weekend in Assiniboia, with the coveted tankard spots going to Estevan鈥檚 Brent Gedak and Regina鈥檚 Jason Ackerman.
A total of 16 rinks will be in Tisdale for the provincials, with the winner representing Saskatchewan at the Tim Hortons Brier in St. John鈥檚, N.L. from March 4 to 12.
