Brent Gedak’s 2018 SaskTel Tankard is over, having lost Saturday morning 9-7 to Scott Bitz.
The Power Dodge Curling Club’s Gedak team was behind early on sheet 1 at Affinity Place after giving up two in the first end and wasn’t able to recover from a great-shooting Bitz, whose team made very few mistakes in the game.
“We played well, we played strong as a team together,” said Gedak after the match. “Unforuntately we just lost a few games.”
The Gedak team had a lot of difficulty getting all the Bitz rocks out of play in the early going.
“We started without hammer so we were trying to get things going a little bit so we don’t just go up and down and keep the advantage in his court,” Gedak said. “Just couldn’t get on the right inch early in the game and they got a deuce on us early.”
Gedak stole one in the ninth when Bitz’ takeout left his shooter just a little short, making the game 6-5. But in a similar shot in the 10th end, Bitz stayed shot rock and counted one to win the C side semifinal.
“I don’t think he’s going to miss that shot but you’ve got to make him throw it,” Gedak said. “We had some stuff going there but it didn’t work out.”
Gedak bows out with good memories of playing at the Tankard in his hometown.
“Won’t get to do it again probably, so that was a lot of fun and I was glad I could be here,” he said.
In the morning’s other matches, Ryan Deis eliminated Carl deConinck Smith 3-2 in a C semifinal and Brady Kendel eliminated defending champion Adam Casey 9-7 in the other C semifinal. Brock Virtue defeated Steve Laycock 8-7 in the B final, moving Virtue into the first-vs-second Page Playoff match tonight at 7 p.m. against Colton Flasch.
The afternoon’s 2 p.m. draw will see Bitz take on Kendel and Laycock battle Deis for the right to be C qualifiers.
