After just missing out clinching an automatic spot in the Saskatchewan men’s provincial playdowns, Unity’s Drew Heidt was determined to earn one of the fourth berths at the Northern men’s qualifier this weekend.
His North Battleford rink did just that Saturday morning as they cruised to a 9-1 win in just five ends over Wadena’s Scott Comfort in the ‘A’ final at the Twin Rivers Curling Club.
“The boys played well this week and we’re pretty happy about how things went,” Heidt said.
“We have a lot of experience on our team and everyone was really focussed on the task at hand. It really showed in all four games that we played here.”
Heidt, who is joined on his rink by third Jesse St. John, second Cole Tenetiuk and lead Chadd McKenzie, took control of the game Saturday morning by picking up a steal off three points in fourth end to take a commanding 7-1 lead over Comfort.
“That really took the wind out of their sails,” Heidt said.
“We had a bit of a lead already so Scott was taking a few chances to try and get back into the game. They played a few aggressive shots that didn’t quite turn out in his favour, and that allowed us to get that steal.”
Heidt will have a family reunion of sorts at the provincials, which take place in Tisdale from Feb. 1-5.
His father Brad, who has won two provincial titles and was the runner-up at the 1995 Brier, will be skipping a rink out of Kerrobert and his brother Josh is the third for Kody Hartung’s Saskatoon-based squad.
“They are definitely going to be in big trouble if they run into me, that’s for sure,” Heidt joked.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun to play against them. My dad has a really good senior squad there and hopefully we’re going to lock horns at some point during the week.”
Heidt’s last trip to the Saskatchewan men’s playdowns was with his dad in 2015.
Another provincial spot will be decided tonight at 7 p.m. in the ‘B’ event final.
That matchup will see the winner of the match between Comfort and Saskatoon’s Tyler Travis going up against the victor of the all-Saskatoon affair between Brady Scharback and Braden Stewart.
Both of those games will get underway at 1:30 p.m.
The last two berth in the provincials will be decided in the ‘C’ finals at 1 p.m. Sunday.
