Regina’s Scott Bitz wasn’t hoping for such an early qualification into the 2018 SaskTel Tankard but he’ll take it anyway.
His 5-1 defeat Sunday afternoon over Regina’s Randy Bryden rink sealed the win for Bitz, who curls out of the Saskatoon Sutherland Club, at the Power Dodge Ice Centre’s Saskatchewan Curling Tour (SCT) Bonspiel.
“We’re not playing much,” said Bitz. “Games in Northern or Southern (playdowns) would have been nice but it’s fun to book the trip anyways.”
The way he and his team were curling on the weekend, the Tankard can’t come fast enough. The Tankard will run from Jan. 31.-Feb. 4, 2018. Also it may have added an idea of who is going to be some of the competition as the Tankard comes closer.
“I’m getting up there now,” said Bitz. “I’ve played Randy when he was probably 17 or 18 and I was 15 or 16, right behind him… It’s neat, this weekend, seeing some of the young teams and playing. That’s kind of fun because those are the guys you’ll end up watching down the road.”
Now that the next month and a half the Bitz rink doesn’t have to worry about the qualification for the Tankard, the focus turns to playing well in the short amount of time they do have together.
“We’ll not do a whole ton here in the next month or so,” Bitz said. “We’ll just enjoy the Christmas season and family and all that sort of stuff. Honestly, that’s been our approach the whole year. You’ve got four guys who can’t play much and have commitments whether it’s work or young families or both. We’ll just play a couple ‘spiels, have some fun and enjoy the camaraderie and all the other guys in competition and so far it’s been working. We lost the final at the Highland (Club) in Regina… We’ll be looking for a pay-per-win to get a few games in before provincials. Which probably isn’t the ideal prep but you’ll take it.”
Bitz beat Ryan Deis 5-4 in the semifinal while Bryden knocked off Brent Gedak, who has already qualified for the Tankard with an earlier SCT win. The winner of the 2018 Tankard goes to represent Saskatchewan at the Tim Hortons Brier in Regina in March.
