It’s been so far, so good for Brett Behm and the Brandon Zuravloff foursome through the opening draws at the Moose Jaw Sask Curling Tour stop.
Behm -- who hails from the Friendly City -- and the Canora-based rink won their first two games to advance to the A-side qualifying games at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre.
Zuravloff opened with an 8-7 extra-end win over Saskatoon’s Jason Jacobson in their opener on Friday night before taking a 5-3 victory over Moose Jaw’s Dustin Woloschuk in the semifinal. They’re set to face 2012 Tankard champion Scott Manners in one of two A finals during the afternoon draw on Saturday.
The other A final will feature Regina’s Josh Bryden taking on Saskatoon’s Michael Carss.
Woloschuk had the luck of the draw on his side and received a bye through the first round. He played his first B side game Saturday morning and dropped an 8-4 decision to Sweden’s Fredrik Nyman, and will now face a familiar foe in Moose Jaw’s Jaedon Miller in the C side semifinal.
Miller opened his run by dropping a 6-5 extra decision to fellow Moose Jaw rink Ben Gamble, who like Miller and Woloschuk are all members of the Original 16 Cash League. Miller then fell 7-6 to Brendan Ross in their B side opener,
Ross, who hails from Swift Current and includes Moose Jaw’s Daniel Mutlow on his foursome, fell 5-3 to Manners in the opening draw and will face perennial Tankard contender Jeff Hartung of Langenburg in their B semifinal.
Gamble ended up in his second extra-end game in as many outings in his A semifinal against Manners, dropping a 7-6 decision. They’re also in the B semifinal and will once again face a familiar foe in Estevan’s Brent Gedak.
Gedak -- who is taking the ice with Moose Jaw’s Derek Owens -- lost 8-7 to Hartung in their opener before rebounding with an 8-0 win over Foam Lake’s Garrett Fedak in their first B side game.
The winner of Gedak and Gamble will advance to face Jacobson in the B final at 7 p.m. Saturday, while the winner of Ross and Hartung will take on Nyman in the other qualifier. The C finals are also taking place during the 7 p.m. draw.
Each of the event winners will advance to the playoffs beginning Sunday morning, with the quarter-finals at 9:30 a.m., semifinal at 12:30 p.m. and championship game at 4 p.m.
The event is the second last stop on the Sask Curling Tour and as such has valuable Sask CTRS points on the line for qualification for the SaskTel Tankard. The top four teams on the Sask CTRS and top four teams on the Canadian Team Ranking System earn automatic Tankard berths, with the remainder of the 12-team field decided during the Last Chance spiel Jan. 5-8 in Tisdale. The Tankard runs Feb. 1-5 in Estevan.
