They may have come to the Battleford Curling Club as the Scott Manners team, but they are leaving as something else: Team Saskatchewan.
The newly-minted provincial curling champions returned to their host curling club as conquering heroes Sunday at a rousing send-off party held in their honour.
It is the first time the Battleford Curling Club is able to celebrate a provincial men's Tankard championship in their history.
"It's nice to be back in our home club," said skip Scott Manners, who was joined by third Tyler Lang, second Ryan Deis and lead Mike Armstrong. "Everybody's been so welcoming, it's been really nice."
Also joining them for the celebration was fifth man Carl deConnick-Smith of Eston, who will be the alternate when the team represents Saskatchewan at the Brier in Saskatoon beginning March 3.
They were greeted with green-and-yellow balloons as well as a celebration cake. They also got a gift of $500 to help send their families to watch the Brier as well.
The event was well-attended by curling fans and supporters as well as civic officials.
The party proved as much an introduction of the Manners team to the people of the Battlefords as a celebration. The team had flown under the radar in the curling playdowns, and even some people in the Battlefords weren't familiar with them. Part of the reason was because this is the first year together as members of the Battleford Curling Club.
Manners and Deis are from Lloydminster while Lang and Armstrong are out of Saskatoon, though Armstrong also has a Lloydminster connection.
Picking a home rink as a base was complicated. Lloydminster's home rink would have fallen under the Alberta jurisdiction. With a team of Lloydminster and Saskatoon curlers needing a Saskatchewan affiliation to compete in the provincial playdowns, it "seemed a good fit to be in the middle," Manners said. So they affiliated with the Battleford club.
The choice proved fortuitous for the team as lightning struck for them. They went on a roll through the provincial playdowns, starting with success in the regionals held at Battleford Curling Club in January.
They lost only one game at the northern playdowns in Nipawin and were one of the five teams to go to provincials in Assiniboia. After losing their opening game of the provincials, they "kept learning and kept building and played one game at a time, and here we are," said Manners.
They scored a 6-5 victory over the Bruce Korte team to win the title.
The victory is all the more remarkable given how little experience the team actually had together as a unit. "I don't think we played 50 games together," Manners said.
The skip acknowledged the team's underdog role going into the Brier.
"We're a definite dark horse going into the event," said Manners. "But we've played well and we've peaked at the right time, and the results show that."
Team members are similarly pumped-up about the success their rink has enjoyed this season.
"Right from the get-go we've all been on the same page," said Armstrong. "We've worked really hard from the beginning and it's paid off, for sure."
He said the Battleford Curling Club has been "really accommodating" in terms of practise time and supporting them. The Manners rink had just practiced at that rink earlier that day in preparation for the Brier.
Deis says "it's been a dream" for the team, who got together for the first time at their team meeting last June. "It was an instant connection and we could feel that something good was going to happen this year."
Manners looks forward to the Brier in Saskatoon where he expects to receive the backing of the home-town crowd.
"I would just love to see a sea of green," said Manners. As for preparations for that event starting March 3, "we're going to keep doing what we're doing, we have a really strong work ethic."
He expressed confidence in his team's ability to take on the best in the country, having endured tough competition in the SaskTel Tankard event.
The timing of Manners accomplishments coincides with the anticipation of the new Northland Power curling facility later this year, along with the merger of the Battleford and Granite curling clubs that has been approved for next season.
"It's just good for curling in the Battlefords - it just brings more awareness to the sport," said Doug Horn, president of Battleford Curling Club. "It'll improve our numbers in the new rink."
"It's a real boost to curling in the Battlefords," echoed Doug Fehr, president of the Granite Curling Club. "This will give us an extra additional shot in the arm."
Fehr also pointed to the Manners' team's work ethic as an inspiration to other curlers in the area.
"As a curler, it helps to show that anybody who puts a little bit of time and commitment into the game can actually reach the national level."
