SLUCHINSKI RINK READY TO MAKE BRIER DEBUT
Alberta champs face familiar foe in Koe to open Regina tournament this weekend
The glow of having defeated Kevin Koe in two straight games to capture the Alberta men's curling crown has yet to wear off on Aaron Sluchinski and his Brier-bound rink.
Good thing, too.
Because his team, representing the Airdrie Curling Club, can use all of that sparkle in a first-time appearance at the national event come Friday's opening night draw in Regina.
“There was some cool learning there,” said Sluchinski, of playing and beating the eight-time provincial champion in the semifinal and the final of the Alberta playdowns to finally hoist a Boston Pizza Cup.
“Koe used some strategy that we've never really seen before and kind of trapped us a couple of times. But (coach) Mickey Pendergast brought that to our attention and worked through that kind of strategic stuff, which is really great.
“I don't think we'll let him trap us was like that again at the Brier here, but maybe we can use it on someone else.”
They can also use the confidence gained from a double-drop of one of curling's best skips and his team in their maiden Brier voyage, which, strangely enough, begins with Friday's first draw against Koe at Regina's Brandt Centre (5 p.m., TSN).
Koe again?
“Yeah,” said Sluchinski with a chuckle. “Might be better to start with an easier opponent, but that's what we got. So hopefully we can calm the nerves early. It's gonna be opening night, opening weekend and probably a full house — that's going to be different for us, big time. But I hope we can just focus on throwing shots and give Koe a good game.”
And from there, take on the rest of the 2024 Montana's Brier game by game and take in the experience of their first national championship together.
“We're just excited to go and take it all in,” said the 36-yearold native of Drayton Valley. “We put in lots of practice over the last week and a bit here and feel like we're ready to go.
“We're not going to put any pressure on ourselves. We obviously want to compete, but I've always just wanted to compete in a Brier so bad that I just want to go soak it all in. There's probably going to be some nerves in front of that big crowd and stuff, but the pressure I feel like it's not going to be there.
“At least, I hope not.”
It helps that Team Sluchinski is a bit of an unknown on the national curling circuit.
Though they've competed with a similar lineup for years in the Alberta playdowns, the longtime skip and his crew of third Jeremy Harty, second Kerr Drummond and lead Dylan Webster didn't really go full throttle on the scene until the 2022-23 curling campaign.
That commitment amounted to a seventh-best showing on the Canadian Team Ranking System each of the last two seasons.
And here they are now heading to the Brier for a shot at national curling glory, with little experience in tow.
In fact, Sluchinski is the only one with the Brier on his resumé, as the alternate for then-reigning champ Brendan Bottcher at the 2022 national championship.
Not even Pendergast can say he's been to one, despite his decorated career in Alberta.
“Mickey's pretty jacked about it, too,” Sluchinski said. “We've just got to enjoy it, make sure we go out there and have fun and just rely on all the practice that we put in to just allow our bodies to do what they need to do to get the rock down the sheet.
“I think it's anyone's game, really. You've got your favourites like Brad Gushue and Brendan Bottcher, for sure. Bottcher's team seems to be the top team in Canada this season — they've been playing really well. They seem to have everything working for them. We're just going to go out and, hopefully, we can finish top three in our pool and then see if we can make any noise in the playoffs.”
Sluchinski is in Pool B with Koe, Canada's Gushue, Saskatchewan's Mike Mcewen, Québec's Julien Tremblay, Nova Scotia's Matthew Manuel, Prince Edward Island's Tyler Smith, Nunavut's Shane Latimer and Northwest Territories' Jamie Koe. The top three from those nine rinks after the round robin schedule advance to the playoff round.
“We've just got to play solid all the way through the lineup,” Sluchinski said. “It's tough when a guy takes a game off or whatever. So hopefully, everybody can play at a top level throughout each and every game. When it comes down to it, to beat the top teams especially, it's just making more shots than them. So that's what we were able to do against Koe in the Alberta final, and we're gonna really draw on that game to, hopefully, bring that confidence to every game.”