Ben Gamble, Brent Gedak and Cole Tenetuik all found themselves down to their last chance at the 16-team tournament, which crowns the provincial champion who will represent the province at the 2020 Tim Horton’s Brier beginning Feb. 29 in Kingston, Ont.
But things are looking a bit better for Josh Heidt.
Heidt – whose Kerrobert foursome includes Moose Jaw’s Brock Montgomery at third – opened with an 11-8 win over Regina’s Steven Howard in a back-and-forth contest that saw Heidt leading 7-4 through five, tied 7-7 through six and up 10-7 after seven.
Their second match didn’t go quite as well, as they trailed 6-3 through five ends against Regina’s Matt Dunstone and would go onto drop a 9-3 decision.
Their first ‘B’ side contest came against North Battleford’s Cole Tenetuik, who includes Moose Jaw’s Chadd McKenzie at lead.
Heidt scored four in the first, two in the second and another three in the fourth for a quick 9-1 edge, leading to the two teams shaking hands after the fifth.
Heidt was back on the ice Friday evening against Fox Valley’s Ryan Deis in the ‘B” quarter-final.
For Gamble – who competes out of the Regina Highland but plays in the Original 16 Cash League at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre – it was a bit of a rough start.
Gamble, third Braydan Mohns, second Tyler Krupski and lead Rory McCusker lost their opening game 9-5 to defending Tankard champion Kirk Muyres of the Saskatoon Nutana, with a four-spot in the fourth end proving to be the difference in the game.
Their first ‘B’ side contest against Deis was far closer despite a tough few ends in the early going where Deis stole single points in three straight frames to lead 4-0 at the fifth-end break. Gamble got right back into it with singles the next two ends and then a big steal of two in the ninth to tie the game 4-4. Deis would get things done with the hammer in the 10th, though, taking a 5-4 win.
Down to their last life in the first round of ‘C’ side action against Regina’s Samuel Wills, Gamble trailed 3-1 through six ends but was able to land a deuce in the seventh to tie the game 3-3. After Wills scored one to regain the lead, Gamble played a perfect 10th to put up three and take a 6-4 win.
Gamble was back in action against Saskatoon Nutana’s Shaun Meachem on Friday evening in the ‘C’ side quarter-final.
Former Moose Jaw junior standout Gedak and his Estevan rink of third Jason Ackerman, second Derek Owens and lead Curtis Horwath lost their opener 8-5 to Langenburg’s Jeff Hartung but followed with a pair of wins on the ‘B’ side to make things interesting.
Gedak rolled to a 13-3 win over Wills in their first ‘B’ side contest, doing most of their damage with five in the third and another four in the seventh to bring things to an early end.
Next up was Saskatoon Sutherland’s Brady Kendel, where Gedak built a 5-3 lead through six ends but saw it nearly come undone when Kendel scored a pair in the seventh and then stole single points the next two ends. Gedak didn’t go quietly, though, and would score three in the 10th to secure an 8-7 victory.
There would be no such luck against Langenburg’s Kody Hartung, as Gedak again trailed by two with hammer heading into the final end but would only manage to score one and settle for a 6-5 loss.
That dropped Gedak to the ‘C’ quarter-final, where he faces Kerrobert’s Brad Heidt during the 8 p.m. draw Saturday.
That’s in part thanks to Tenetuik.
After losing their first game 8-4 to Saskatoon Nutana’s Jason Jacobson, Tenetuik carried a 5-3 lead into the fifth end against Heidt before exchanging single points the rest of the game and taking an 8-6 win. That set up their match-up with Josh Heidt and the 9-1 loss.
Tenetuik faced Jeff Hartung in their ‘C’ quarter-final Friday evening.
