Fredrik Nyman travelled a long way to take part in the Moose Jaw Sask Curling Tour stop this past weekend, so why not just go out and win the whole thing?
Nyman and his rink from Solleftea, Sweden dropped a single game during the 14-team tournament at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre, eventually taking a 6-5 win over former Tankard champion Scott Manners in the title game Sunday evening.
The final actually looked as if things were going to be over early -- Nyman put up a four-spot in the third end to take a 5-1 edge and would lead 6-2 heading into the break. Manners didn’t go easily, though, picking up single points in the sixth and seventh ends and forcing Nyman to throw his final rock to pick up the win.
“(The third) was a big end for us, but they played a really good game,” said Nyman, who took the ice with third Patric Mabergs, second Simon Olofsson and lead Johannes Patz. “They were pressuring us in every end we had last rock except the one where we scored four, so the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the game, I think. They’re a tough team, but it just worked out good for us and not so good for them.”
Nyman opened with a 6-4 loss to Saskatoon’s Logan Ede but went on a tear from there. He defeated Moose Jaw’s Dustin Woloschuk in the B semifinal and followed up with a 7-2 win over Langenburg’s Jeff Hartung to qualify for the playoff round.
There, it was a 5-1 win over Canora’’s Brandon Zuravloff -- who included Moose Jaw’s Brett Behm at third -- followed by a 6-5 victory over Saskatoon’s Michael Carss in the semifinal.
Manners and his Lloydminster rink of Ryan Deis, Kalin Deis and Carter Babij went unbeaten through to the final, taking a 5-3 win over Swift Current’s Brendan Ross -- with Moose Jaw’s Daniel Mutlow at second -- before downing Moose Jaw’s Ben Gamble 7-5 and Zuravloff 8-4 in the A final. A 6-4 win over Saskatoon Jason Jacobson sent Manners into the championship game.
The Moose Jaw SCT stop was the final tournament in a cross-Canada tour for Nyman, who the weekend prior posted a 1-2 record in the heavyweight-filled DeKalb Superspiel in Morris, Man.
“It was the first time for us in Saskatchewan and I’d never heard of Moose Jaw before, so we didn’t know what to expect,” Nyman said.
“Actually, I guess we knew about the Tunnels, those were great. And the arena is awesome, there’s nothing close to this in Sweden. So it was a lot of fun, friendly teams and we had some fun at the casino, too,” he added with a laugh.
The foursome are flying home back to Sweden on Monday and will have a good chunk of the $6,000 on the line this weekend in their pockets.
The whole idea of the tour was to gain experience against Canadian teams, something Nyman was more than happy with.
“It’s way better than home, we’re not used to playing these good teams, so it was a really good weekend and a good trip,” he said.
Perennial Moose Jaw SCT contender Brent Gedak, who included Moose Jaw’s Derek Owens at third, reached the B final before being eliminated with an 8-1 loss to Jacobson.
Gamble lost 7-6in the B semifinal to Gedak to end his tournament.
Moose Jaw’s Jaedon Miller reached the C qualifier after a 6-5 win over Woloschuk, but dropped a 6-4 decision to Regina’s Josh Bryden.
