It may look like they had an easy run to the provincial Tankard, but Brent Gedak and his teammates had to work for it.
The Estevan team was the first to qualify from the men's southern playdowns in Regina on the weekend, winning all four games on the A side and booking their ticket by Saturday afternoon.
It marks the 10th time in the last 11 years Gedak has qualified for the provincial men's curling championship. The rest of his team includes third John Aston, second Derek Owens and lead Malcolm Vanstone.
"Coming out of the A event is always a little more comfortable, knowing you have a couple of lives left to get there, you can lose a game," Gedak said. "The biggest thing is confidence going into provincials. We've won six games in a row now between regionals and southerns."
It's a nice change from last year for the foursome, which grabbed the last spot on the C side at the 2013 southerns in Estevan.
But it wasn't easy for Gedak, who had to come back from deficits in all four wins.
"We were down in every game we played. All four games we were able to battle back and get the win. The ice was great, lots of curl and it gave teams a chance to come back if they were down a few points. Doing it once or twice is one thing, but to do it four times in a weekend, it was pretty good for our team."
The biggest rally of them all came in the A final against Max Kirkpatrick of Swift Current. Gedak overcame a pair of three-point deficits and scored three in the 10th end for a 9-8 victory.
Kirkpatrick took a 3-0 lead after two ends, but Gedak managed to score three in the fourth to tie the game. The teams then traded deuces before Kirkpatrick put a three-spot on the board in the seventh.
Gedak still found himself trailing by two in the 10th, with hammer.
"We got a few rocks in play and got a miss out of their lead early to generate a few guards they weren't able to remove," Gedak said. "So we were able to play a regular end instead of them peeling us out."
With the Estevan rink lying four, Kirkpatrick made a double takeout on his last stone, leaving Gedak a draw to the button for three, which he made.
The Gedak rink started the playdowns on Thursday with a 9-8 win in an extra end over Catlin Schneider of Regina Tartan.
On Friday, they defeated Moose Jaw's Wade Sydorko 10-7, scoring four points in the fifth end and three more in the eighth to come back from an early deficit.
Later that day, the Gedak foursome knocked off Randy Bryden of Regina Callie 8-6 to advance to the A final.
The Tankard takes place Jan. 29-Feb. 2 in Shaunavon and Gedak said the field is full of legitimate challengers.
He expects veteran Saskatoon skip Bruce Korte to be among the toughest opponents.
"Every year he's there and he's always in the top three. He's won a few times."
Gedak said his team is focusing on making sure they're prepared for the Tankard, practising a little more than usual.
Meanwhile, Lampman's Mark Walter also curled at the southern playdowns.
His team of Garry Kreutzer (third), Trevor Willock (second) and Dave Wetsch (lead) played five games, getting as far as the B semifinals.
The Walter rink was knocked out of the A draw in their first game, losing 8-4 to William Coutts of Regina Highland.
Their run on the B side began with a 9-3 win over Lionel Holm of Watrous in nine ends. Next, they edged Sydorko 9-7 before losing 8-5 to Kerrobert's Josh Heidt in a B semifinal.
Walter lost to Coutts again on the C side, 7-6, to be knocked out of the playdowns.
