Redemption for Saskatchewan’s two provincial curling champions

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Two teams who finished in second place last year are now provincial curling champions.

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Rylan Kleiter and his Saskatoon squad, who lost to Team Mike McEwen at last year’s SaskTel Tankard, were able to win the Saskatchewan men’s curling championship this year with an 8-5 win over Steve Laycock and his Swift Current team in the championship game on Sunday in Kindersley.

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Meanwhile, after finishing in second place in back-to-back years, Nancy Martin and her Saskatoon team were also able to come out victorious as they beat Jolene Campbell and her Regina team 9-7 in the Viterra Prairie Pinnacle women’s provincial championship.

Martin will be making her second career trip to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, but first as a skip after playing third alongside Sherry Anderson in 2021. Third Chaelynn Stewart, second Kadriana Lott, lead Deanna Doig and alternate Colleen Ackerman will also be wearing the green jacket as Team Saskatchewan when the national championship gets underway Feb. 14-23 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

For Kleiter, he is set to make his Brier debut in Kelowna, B.C. from Feb. 28 to March 9 after winning his first provincial championship alongside third Joshua Mattern, second Matthew Hall and lead Trevor Johnson. Their coach, Dean Kleiter, represented Saskatchewan twice as an alternate at the Brier in 2001 and 2003.

Team Kleiter will be one of two Saskatchewan rinks in the field as Mike McEwen and his squad that lost in the Brier final last year to Brad Gushue have already pre-qualified.

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After finishing the round robin as tthe third seed with a 5-3 record, Kleiter beat Regina’s Team Kelly Knapp in the page 3-4 playoff game on Saturday night before getting by Saskatoon’s Team Dustin Kalthoff on Sunday morning in the semifinal.

That set up a rematch in the championship game against Laycock, who beat Kleiter 7-6 on Thursday in the round robin on his way to claiming the No. 1 seed with a 7-1 record before beating Kalthoff in the 1-2 page playoff game.

And in the final, Laycock scored singles in the first and fourth ends while Kleiter capitalized with three points in the third end and another three points in the fifth to go up 6-2.

From there, the teams traded deuces in the sixth and seventh ends before Kleiter and company were able to fend off Laycock in the final three ends to win 8-5.

Meanwhile on the women’s side, after a 6-2 round robin record secured the No. 2 seed, Martin lost in the 1-2 page playoff game to Campbell, who finished the round robin with a 7-1 record.

After beating Team Ashley Thevenot 15-8 in the semifinal on Sunday morning, Martin got a second chance at Campbell in the final.

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And in the championship game, Martin stole four points in the first four ends to take a commanding lead before Campbell got three points back in the fifth to make it 4-3.

After the teams traded single points in the next two ends, Martin scored a deuce in the eighth to take a 7-4 lead before Campbell tied the game with a three-point end in the ninth after Martin crashed on a guard with her last.

With the game tied 7-7 entering the final end, Campbell needed a draw to the four foot with her last to force Martin into a tough shot. But Campbell was just short and Martin didn’t need to throw her final stone as she escaped with the 9-7 win.

Also on Sunday, CurlSask announced that Melville will host the 2026 SaskTel Tankard and Viterra Prairie Pinnacle in a similar joint format to the 2025 championship with both the men’s and women’s events being held at the same time.

tshire@postmedia.com

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