ESTEVAN - The competitors in the A final have been determined at the SaskTel Tankard provincial men’s curling championship in Estevan.
Defending provincial champion Colton Flasch will face Kelly Knapp Friday afternoon, starting at 3 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game will earn the top qualifier spot from the draw, and advance directly to the playoffs that start Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
Flasch made it to the A final with an 8-2 victory over Kody Hartung in seven ends. The first half was low scoring, with Hartung leading 2-1 through five ends. But then Flasch scored two in the sixth and stole five in the seventh.
Knapp defeated Steve Laycock 9-7. Laycock scored four in the fifth end to take a 6-2 lead, but Knapp scored one in six and stole two in each of seven and eight to take the lead. Laycock scored one in the ninth end, but Knapp replied with two in 10.
The other scores in Thursday night’s draw saw Rylan Kleiter defeat Joshua Heidt 7-3 in eight ends, thanks in large part to a steal of two in the third and three in the sixth, and the Jason Jacobson rink beat the Logan Ede rink 7-3, with three in the seventh and two in the ninth being the big scores.
In the morning draw on Thursday, Flasch defeated Jacobson 9-4, Laycock upended Kleiter 8-5, Hartung beat Dustin Kalthoff 11-6, and Knapp defeated Daymond Bernath 9-7.
Two games were played in the afternoon: Michael Carss defeated Bernath 7-3 in eight ends, and Kalthoff beat Dallan Muyres 7-1 in nine ends.
Curling resumes Friday at 10 a.m., with Kalthoff facing Laycock and Hartung playing Carss. Both games are in the B event.
Three more games will be played at 3 p.m. In addition to the A final, Kleiter will play Jacobson in the B event and Muyres will face Bernath in the C event.
Two more games will be played in the B event and two will be played in the C event at 7:30 p.m. Matchups have yet to be determined, but Ede and Heidt will be playing their respective C event games.
