Some of the top curling teams in the province were in Estevan on the weekend for a Saskatchewan Curling Tour event.
Eight teams were entered in the event, with a spot in the SaskTel Tankard provincial championship waiting for the winner. Teams were divided into two pools of four, and played a round robin. The top two teams in each pool then advanced to the semifinal round.
The Ben Gamble rink defeated Shane Vollman’s entry 6-4 in final. Both teams are from the Regina Highland Curling Club. Gamble scored once in the first end and stole two in the second. Vollman responded by taking one in the third.
Gamble scored one in the fourth end to restore the two-point lead, and the two teams traded points the rest of the way, with Gamble getting the final point in the eighth end.
Two local teams were also entered. The Tye Olson rink, which included third Allan Walter, second Jess Olson and lead Tyler Corbin, went 2-1 in the round-robin and made it to the semifinal round.
Olson opened the tournament with a 6-2 victory over Travis Tokarz of the Granite Curling Club in Saskatoon. After blanking the first two ends, would surrender just two points in the fifth end. The two teams shook hands after seven ends, when Olson stole one.
The next game was a 6-4 win over Saskatoon Sutherland’s Carson Ackerman. After giving up one point in the first end, Ackerman scored three times in the second end and one in the third. Ackerman would pull within one a couple of times, but could never muster the tying point.
Olson’s final round robin game was a 7-3 loss to Shane Vollman, and then he lost 9-3 to Vollman in the semis.
The other local team entered was the Shawn Meyer rink, which also consisted of lead Marcus Lau, second Austin Williamson and third Kris Keating. They went 0-3, starting with a 6-1 loss to Gamble.
Their next game was an 8-7 loss to Sam Wills of the Regina Highland Curling Club. Wills scored four in the first end, and after giving up one in the second, scored two more in the third for a 6-1 lead. But Meyer responded with three in the fourth, and stole one in the fifth and two in the sixth. Wills recovered with two in the eighth.
The final game was a 7-5 loss to Dustin Woloschuk of the Regina Callie Club. Meyer had a 3-1 lead after two ends, and 5-4 after five, but Woloschuk scored the winning points in the sixth end.
