HUMBOLDT — After a long battle throughout the weekend, Ashley Quick and Mike Armstrong will represent Saskatchewan at the Mixed Doubles Curling National Championship in Portage La Prairie, Man.
Quick and Armstrong found themselves battling against Madison and Rylan Kleiter in order to take the provincial championship title during the provincial competition at the Humboldt Curling Club from Feb. 27 to March 1. The duo had a strong showing all weekend gathering 67 points throughout their eight wins, leaving their opponents with only 26.
This consistency is something that duo is quite proud of, Armstrong said.
This will be Quick and Armstrong’s second showing at Nationals, with the team winning the first provincial mixed doubles event back in 2013.
The duo is currently ranked No. 1 in the province.
Twenty-four teams battled it out at the Humboldt Curling Club over the four days of high quality, high-intensity curling. This included three Humboldt curlers: Braden Fleischhacker, Dustin Kalthoff and Emma Syroteuk.
Kalthoff and partner Ashley Thevenot, would make it to the semi-finals before losing to the Kleiter twosome.
Finding out that the provincial competition was going to be in Humboldt was a good motivator for Kalthoff, he said. While Kalthoff has had a wide-reaching curling career, it was still a treat to play in Humboldt with familiar faces watching him compete.
“That made it more fun and I had a great time.”
Fleischhacker and partner Abbey Johnson are ranked seventh in the province for mixed doubles teams but their 2-3 record during the round-robin was not enough to get them to the playoff round.
Fleischhacker was still happy to be finally playing a championship like this at home saying playing for a hometown crowd was a great experience. Obviously you want to put on a good show for everyone, Fleischhacker said, but it was great to have the hometown support.
“It was nice to see everyone out here cheering us on.”
Quick and Armstrong didn’t bring any fans with them so the welcoming Humboldt crowd made the duo feel like they were playing for their hometown.
“We have developed so many fans who were just so kind, telling us they were rooting for us. We felt supported the whole weekend,” Quick said.
Humboldt did a wonderful job hosting and it was a fantastic event, Armstrong said.
Mixed Doubles Nationals will be held at the Portage Curling Club March 17 to 22. Eighteen teams will be competing for this title, including St. Gregor’s Kirk Muyres and his partner, Laura Walker of Edmonton, Alta. The winner will go on to represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles Championship.
