After battling tooth and nail to get to the final, one rink had lots left in the tank and the other had none.
Brady Scharback's Saskatoon Granite team captured the provincial junior men's curling championship in Stoughton on Monday with a 9-1 win over Saskatoon Nutana's Colton Flasch in a final game that lasted just six ends.
"There was some championship curling here. The final wasn't really a test of what some of the curling was," said Delmar Deren of the Stoughton Curling Club, who chaired the host committee for the tournament.
"The Flasch rink, (in Monday morning's semifinal), couldn't miss a shot and then they turned around and they couldn't make one (in the afternoon final)."
Scharback and his teammates, Quinn Hersikorn, Jake Hersikorn and Brady Kendel along with coach Dwayne Yachiw, had posted a 4-1 round-robin record to finish in a three-way tie for top spot in Pool B.
The team then defeated Pool A winner Jake Ripplinger 8-5 in a semifinal on Sunday night.
Flasch had to beat Daniel Selke in a tiebreaker to earn the other playoff berth out of Pool B. Also competing in the tournament were Brent Flaman (3-2), Dean Jaeb (3-2), David Haines (2-3), Jeremy Vanderbuhs (2-3), Chadd McKenzie (2-3), Lucas Richards (1-4), Travis Tokarz (1-4) and Ryley Boyes (0-5).
The club employed roughly 40-50 volunteers for the event, which began on Thursday, and Deren said it ran well.
"Everything went smooth as silk," he said. "The ice conditions were excellent. Curlers and coaches couldn't say enough about the ice and we're pleased with that. We're really happy with the way the whole week went.
"I'm 99.9 per cent positive this is the first time a small town with a three-sheet curling rink has hosted this."
Deren said the attendance surpassed the committee's expectations, with more than 100 tournament passes sold on the first day.
He said he didn't yet know exactly how much money was made from the event but it was above the break-even point.
"There's a group of people, you call upon them and they just don't say no. They phone a couple of people and then volunteers start rolling in. Sometimes you have to do more than what's expected, but at the end of the day you put a provincial champion out of here."
