Team McKee built on the strong showing they had during the round robin portion of the Affinity Senior Curling Provincials and won the championship against Team Schick.
Team McKee, which features skip Darrell McKee, lead Rodney Antonichuk, second Dan Kennedy and third Mark Lane, won the Feb. 25 men’s final 8-4.
“It was good,” McKee said. “We got ahead a bit and then it was a little scary for a while. They started putting the pressure on us. It was good at the end to finally shake hands.”
It was Team McKee that managed to score first, with four in the second end. McKee said getting that was huge, especially on the somewhat tricky ice at the Tisdale Community Curling Centre.
“To get up on this ice, it’s not really easy to come back on. Most of the time, if we could get ahead a couple of points, we could kind of run it out, though it got a little scary on this round,” he said. “Overall, we wanted to get ahead with the hammer and keep control.”
McKee said once his team had made that four-pointer, they began to settle in, knowing they had to keep their wits about them in case Team Schick pulled a comeback.
Team Schick earned a point in the third end and then Team McKee earned three in the fourth.
“We know they’re going to have to gamble, so you’re hoping you’re going to get a chance like we did when we got the three ball,” McKee said.
Team Schick got three points in the fifth and sixth ends, while Team McKee got an extra point in the seventh. Team Schick conceded in the eighth.
The victory means Team McKee will represent Saskatchewan again this year at the nationals in Stratford, Ont. March 24 to 29. McKee said his team could have won it last year with a few more victories under their belt and are aiming to win it this year.
The champion skip said he thought the provincials, held in Tisdale Feb. 21 to 25, were awesome.
“The fans, we haven’t see fans like this anywhere we played,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
