First, you had the Brent Gedak rink out of Estevan. The former Moose Jaw competitor won the provincial junior title with Brock Montgomery in 2000 out of the Hillcrest Sports Centre. One of his teammates that season was current second and Moose Jaw native Derek Owens, who also claimed provincial junior gold with Steven Scott the previous season. Current third Jason Ackerman was also a member of the Scott team.
And then you had the Brady Kendel and his Saskatoon foursome. Between himself, third Jacob Hersikorn, second Quinn Hersikorn and lead Brandon Leippi, there were five straight provincial titles from 2012 to 2016, with four of those banners belonging to Kendel and Leippi on various teams.
So with that much skill on the ice, it stood to reason it would be a close and competitive game, which is exactly what happened.
Gedak found himself trailing Kendel 4-0 through two ends and 6-3 at the fifth-end break, but a four-spot in the sixth end would suddenly give him the lead. They followed with a nearly perfectly played seventh clinched a 9-6 win.
“Early in the game I struggled with some draw weight, but the team hung around all game and battled back, they were making all their shots, so they just had some faith that I’d come back and make some shots,” said Gedak, who had Curtis Horwath at lead.
“We’ve always played well here, this is Derek’s club so we’re used to it and he helps me out with some the ice calls and stuff. We like coming here, it’s handy for all four of us being from around this area. We got up early in every game except this one, which makes a difference.”
Gedak went undefeated through the weekend, defeating three-time defending provincial junior champion Rylan Kleiter of Saskatoon in their opener before defeating Estevan’s Shawn Meyer 4-2 in the ‘A’ semifinal and rolling to a 10-0 win over Jason Jacobson in the ‘A’ final.
That sent him straight to the championship round semi, where he took a 7-1 win over Shane Vollman to earn his spot in the title game.
While the Moose Jaw tournament didn’t offer a direct berth into the Tankard, it did provide valuable SCT points and virtually guaranteed a spot in the provincial men’s championship with the win.
“Getting 10 points here and getting a lead on the rest of the province is good as far as points go,” Gedak said. “We’re happy with that and that’s why we were here.”
Kendel also went undefeated until the final, with an 8-1 win over former Moose Jaw competitor Carson Ackerman, 7-3 win over Regina’s Sam Wills in his ‘A’ semifinal and 6-2 defeat of Travis Tokarz in the ‘A’ final. He followed with a 5-3 win over Wills in the championship semifinal.
