The SaskTel Northern Men's playdown was held at the Unity Curling club January 20-23 with 23 teams competing. Among those curlers at the event were some from the Humboldt region.
One local curler will be making the trip to the SaskTel Provincial Men's championship.
Aaron Gaudreau of Pilger, curling with his brother Derek Gaudreau, qualified through the B event at Northerns.
The Gaudreau rink, curling out of the Shellbrook Curling Club, includes skip Derek Gaudreau of Martensville, third Aaron Gaudreau of Pilger, second Darren LaMotte of Shellbrook, and lead Chris Unger of Hague.
Gaudreau's rink won their first game at Northerns, defeating Randy Graham 7-4 on January 20.
Their second game, played on January 21, saw the Gaudreau foursome fall 8-6 to Gerry Adam.
The loss dropped the team to the B event, where they faced the Denis Sunderland rink from Naicam at 8:30 a.m. on January 22. Gaudreau won the match 7-4.
At 12:30 p.m. on the same day, the Gaudreau rink was on the ice again, this time facing the Brian Humble quartet. Gaudreau defeated Humble 8-6, to keep their hopes alive.
Gaudreau's last game of the day was at 8:30 p.m., when a tired foursome faced Gerry Adam once again. This time, the Gaudreau rink defeated Adam 9-2 in one of the B event finals. The win gave Gaudreau a spot at the provincial Tankard.
"We played fairly well and are looking forward to the Tankard," Aaron Gaudreau told the Journal.
All the team members, except for Unger, have been to the Tankard before, he noted.
"I hope our chances are good," Gaudreau said. "We played some of the highly-ranked teams at Northerns and beat some, so we're not scared to play anyone."
Gaudreau considers the Humboldt Curling Club his home club after 20 years of curling.
The SaskTel Provincial Men's championship is set for February 2-6 at North Battleford.
The Darrell McKee rink, curling out of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon had two former Muenster residents. Bruce Korte and Roger Korte played third and second, respectively, for the McKee rink. McKee, the defending provincial champion, didn't fare so well this year. The rink was knocked out of Northerns with a loss in the C event semi-final.
Also at Northerns was the Denis Sunderland Rink from the Naicam Curling Club. Sunderland, the skip, was joined by third Ray Moisan, second Doug Rain, and lead Rob Voldeng.
The Sunderland rink lost their first game in the A event, dropped to the B event where they won their first game, but lost their second. The loss dropped them to the third event where they won their first game, but lost the next one, ending their run for a spot at the provincial Tankard.
