The SaskTel Tankard is the annual provincial championship for men's curling in Saskatchewan, with the winner representing the province at the Montana's Brier, the national men's championship. The bonspiel, which is organized by CURLSASK, the provincial curling association, is also known as the SaskTel Provincial Men's Curling Championship. SaskTel became the title sponsor in 2004; the Tankard was previously known as the Macdonald Tankard (1927–1979), the Labatt Tankard (1980–1994), the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Tankard (1995–2003), and the SaskTel Mobility Tankard (2004–2006).
Qualification and format
The number of teams participating and the format of the bonspiel has varied over the years. Until 2022, the SaskTel Tankard was a sixteen team-seeded triple knockout bonspiel with a page playoff system; the sixteen teams qualified as follows:[1]
Six berths were awarded based on Southern and Northern Playdown qualifying events.
Four berths were awarded to the highest ranked Saskatchewan teams from the national CTRS ranking.
One berth was awarded to the highest ranked registered Saskatchewan team from the Saskatchewan Curling Tour (SCT).
Four berths were awarded from SCT provincial berth bonspiels.
One berth was awarded at the SaskTour Players' Championship.
At the provincial final, the A Event winner, B Event winner, and the two finalists of the C Event advanced to the page playoff.[1]
In 2022, the number of teams was reduced to twelve but the event remained a triple knockout with a page playoff. Qualification was also simplified to include the top four teams on the CTRS, the top four ranked teams on the SCT, and four teams qualifying through direct events, called the Men's Last Chance.[2]
To align more closely with the Brier, the format of the tournament was changed in 2024 with teams divided into two pools of six teams leading to a page playoff.[3][2]
The Saskatchewan Tankard has been contested annually since 1927, with the event cancelled only once, in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
Into the 1970s, two families were able to establish impressive records. A team of Campbells from Avonlea, skipped by Garnet Campbell, won their first Tankard in 1947, and won three more in the 1950s, along with the province's first national title at the 1955 Macdonald Brier in Regina.[5] Garnet would go on to form a productive partnership with Bob Pickering, winning another six Tankards for a record ten overall. Altogether, the six Campbells won twenty four Tankards between 1947 and 1971.[6] The Richardson family, led by skip Ernie Richardson out of Regina, won five Tankards in a six year span from 1959 to 1964, and went on to win four Brier titles and four world championships, including the first ever at the 1959 Scotch Cup.[7] Altogether, the Richardson clan won fourteen Tankards. The other two rinks who went on to Brier success were Harvey Mazinke's, who won the 1973 Macdonald Brier, and Rick Folk's, who won three consecutive Tankards and the 1980 Labatt Brier.[8]
In the twenty first century, Pat Simmons won four consecutive Tankards as a skip from 2005 to 2008, and a fifth in 2011 with Steve Laycock skipping but throwing third stones.[9] Laycock has won seven Tankards overall, including five as skip.[10] The most recent Tankard champion is Mike McEwen, who teamed up with former Tankard champions Colton Flasch, Kevin Marsh, and Dan Marsh.[11] The 2024 Montana's Brier was McEwen's ninth, but his first representing Saskatchewan after previous entries with Manitoba and Ontario.[11]
