Six teams pre-qualified for the 2011 Sasktel Tankard, which will take place at the Civic Centre in a weeks time. Ten other teams qualified through the northern and southern playoffs on the weekend filling out the provincial field.
The northern playdown was in Unity and it was Carl deConinck Smith of Rosetown winning four straight games and earning the first berth of the weekend to the Tankard.
The deConinck Smith rink beat Doug Phelps of Prince Albert 8-5 in the first game. Next, he beat defended Tankard champion Darrell McKee 9-5. In the A-event semi final, the Rosetown rink beat Brian Humble of the Saskatoon 5-3 to advance to the final. The final produced a 7-5 deConinck Smith win over Dale Craig of Saskatoon.
Derek Gaudreau of Shellbrook beat Gerry Adam 9-2 in one of the B-event final qualifiers. The other team to advance from the B-event was Darren Camm's rink from Saskatoon, which edged Craig.
Craig's rink continued to battle their way to qualifying games, but for the third time lost in a qualifier, as the Humble rink won 6-3 in one of the C-event qualifiers. Mark Lane of Martensville was the final rink to qualify from the northern playdown, as his rink won 6-5 over Adam.
Louie Lessard of the Battlefords also competed in the northern playdown and finished the weekend 1-3. Lessard lost to McKee 9-2, beat Phelps 10-4, lost to Glen Heitt of Unity 9-5 and was knocked out of the C-event by Denis Sunderland after losing 8-4.
Advancing from the southern playdown was Mark Herbert in the A-event. Dean Moulding and Mike Eberle advanced from the B-event. From the C-event was Jamey Jordison defeating Jason Krupski and Brent Gedak beat Max Kirkpatrick for the final spots.
Terry Marteniuk, Brad Law, Shawn Joyce, Pat Simmons, Randy Bryden and Scott Bitz all pre-qualified in December for the Tankard.
Of the 16 teams, Simmons and Bitz are the only ones two have won a Tankard event in the past. Simmons won four times (2005-'08) while Bitz won in 2002.
