Erwin Hanley claims first Tankard berth as skip
Erwin Hanley overcame a slow start with a strong finish at the SaskTel Saskatchewan Tankard southern men’s playdowns.
The Highland skip opened the playdowns with two straight defeats at the Tartan Curling Club. Another loss would have ended Hanley’s chances of qualifying for the Saskatchewan Tankard, Feb. 4-8 in Melville.
Hanley, third Andrew Edgar, second Dean Cursons and lead Cory Hubbick did rally, winning their final four games to clinch a berth in the provincial championship.
“In our first two games, we didn’t curl that badly,’’ Hanley said after beating Shaylor Layman of Lafleche 11-6 in one of Sunday’s Cevent finals. “The ice is tricky, but once we learned how to throw the right weight and put the broom in the right spot we caught on to it.’’
Jamie Schneider, who also curls out of the Highland, claimed the other C-event berth with a 9-5 win over Daryl Williamson (Moosomin). The other skips advancing to the Tankard from the southern playdowns were Brent Gedak (Estevan), Joel Jordison (Moose Jaw) and Josh Heidt (Kerrobert).
Gedak beat Heidt 10-9 in Saturday’s A-event final with a steal of two in the 10th end. In Saturday’s B-event finals, Jordison defeated Schneider 5-4 in an extra end and Heidt beat Layman 7-5.
Hanley qualified for previous provincial championships as a second with Regina’s Randy Gilewich and a third with the Queen City’s Derek Boe. Sunday’s win marked the first time that Hanley advanced to the Tankard as a skip.
“It feels good,’’ Hanley said. “It has always been one of my goals to make the provincials as a skip. The guys said before the weekend started that we would just try to get to a qualifier and see what happens. We would go out there and have some fun, which we did.’’
Jamie Schneider returns to the provincial championship after losing a qualifying game in 2014. Jamie is listed as the skip, but his brother Rick throws the final two stones. It’s a lineup that the team, which includes brothers Curt and Shannon England on the front end, has used since 2012 while Jamie was recovering from knee surgery.
“(Jamie and I) have played together off and on since 1980, so it’s not a really big change one way or the other,’’ Rick Schneider said. “We could still have him go back and play skip. He likes playing third and calling the game.’’
Terry Marteniuk (Yorkton), Dale Craig (Saskatoon), Drew Heidt (Kerrobert), Michael Carss (Saskatoon) and Jeff Hartung (Langenburg) advanced to the Tankard after the northern playdowns in Prince Albert on the weekend.
Jason Ackerman, Scott Bitz and Randy Bryden, all from Regina, and Kevin Marsh, Jason Jacobson and Steve Laycock, who curl out of Saskatoon, pre-qualified for the Tankard by virtue of their performances on the fall cash circuit.
Teams with a bye to the provincial championship have had an advantage over the qualifying squads since the format rewarding strong performances on the Saskatchewan and World Curling tours was installed in 2005. Only one skip — Battleford’s Scott Manners — has won a provincial title while following the playdown route. Manners won the provincial championship in 2012.
The challenge of upsetting the best teams in the province doesn’t diminish how much it means to reach the Tankard.
“It’s always special to get to our provincial championship,’’ said Rick Schneider, who shared in the 1990 Saskatchewan men’s title with Jamie throwing final stones. “You are always going there with the hopes of winning. We knew our percentages of doing that against some of our top teams is less. We’re still going to give all of those teams all they can handle and hopefully win a few games.’’
Hanley is looking forward to mixing it up with all the teams in Melville. The Tankard is to be held in the Horizon Credit Union Centre, which opened in 2011.
“It’s always fun to play on arena ice,’’ Hanley said. “It’s a different atmosphere (from clubs), but it will be fun.’’