The Lloydminster rink of Al Dmytryshyn, Monte Armstrong, Ryan Armstrong, and Tyson Armstrong, wearing their sponsored shirts, is energized to compete against world and Olympic champion curlers in this week’s Astec Safety Challenge. The Carl deConinck Smith rink with Lloydminster members Ryan Deis, Kalin Deis and Mike Robson is also stoked to take on the world’s best. Supplied Photo
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
That’s the approach two Lloydminster teams are taking for their first draws today at the Astec Safety Challenge with the championship finals on Sunday at the Lloydminster Golf and Curling Club.
Lloyd curlers Ryan Deis, his brother Kalin Deis and Mike Robson on the Carl deConinck Smith rink hope to upset Swedish Olympic champion Nicklas Edin to get their first win.
“We played a very similar event in Swift Current last month. Niklas Edin was there and a few other teams. We’re looking forward to playing a lot of these strong teams again,” said Ryan with a bring-it-on attitude.
He believes the Astec challenge will be way tougher than Swift Current, which didn’t have as many world, Olympic and grand slam champions as Lloyd has.
“You’ve got to be on your game if you want to compete against them that’s for sure,” said Ryan.
He expects to see a lot of visiting friends and family cheering them on, as his brother and deConinck Smith live a few hours from Lloydminster.
The Tyson Armstrong rink with his brother Ryan, dad Monte and Al Dmytryshyn is also looking to raise their brooms in their first match against the world champion Bruce Mouat team from Scotland.
“I don’t think there’s going to be an easy game,” said Tyson.
“We’re going to go in with the same approach to each game. It’s a challenge we’re looking forward to. We’re really looking forward to meeting those guys and being on the same playing surface and playing against them as well.”
Both of the Lloydminster teams will be contenders as part of the 21-elite teams on the ice.
Both deConinck Smith and Ryan competed at the Brier in 2012 with Lloyd skip Scott Manners and at the Wayside Inn Curling Classic in Lloydminster during Monte Armstrong’s heyday in the 90s and 2000s.
“It was always a nice event to showcase the top teams in the surrounding area and Western Canada with some international presence as well,” said Tyson.
He says the Astec challenge will be the biggest event their rink has played in, noting it’s pretty cool to be able to curl in it with his brother and dad.
“Dad would have curled in this event back when it was Wayside curling classic a few different years. It’s kind of neat for him to circle back and play in this event,” he said.
Monte is going to be throwing the second stones and calling the game as skip.
Both teams hope to do well as the Astec Challenge could be their last major bonspiel in the foreseeable future, except for the upcoming Lloydminster Oil and Gas Bonspiel March 14-17.
“For my existing team, this is our last event of the season,” said Ryan.
“We’re not doing the men’s playdowns this year. All four of us have young families, so there wasn’t a lot of time commitment this year for high-level curling.
“This is only our third event and it’s going to be our last one so we’re kind of just treating this as our provincial event.”
Tyson says he’ll be playing in the oilmen’s for sure and suggests the Astec could stoke the competitive fires.
“We did play on the Sask curling tour for many years. This event might spark that competitive nature to get back out there and play a few more events,” he said.
The team currently curls once a week in the Lloyd super league.
Ryan also plays in a local league on Tuesdays and is a spare on a Thursday team.
Both local teams give a nod to Astec for bringing the deepest field of elite curlers to Lloyd since the city hosted the Grand Slam of Curling in 2017.
“It’s pretty nice to see Astec sponsor and bring this event back to Lloydminster. They of course sponsor Team Bottcher (Alberta),” said Tyson.
Ryan thinks the Astec challenge is helping put Lloyd on the button of the curling universe.
“They’ve done a tremendous job with it. This event doesn’t happen without them for sure. They’ve definitely put together a pretty good team for a committee. It’s going to be a great event.”
Ryan also thinks the $100,000 event purse is tied for the largest one in the country outside of grand slams and world championships.
Tyson says the ice conditions at the curling centre have been great all year for all levels of curling competition.
“We’re sure that Bryan Mclasky (ice technician) and the ice team will have the ice ready to really showcase some of the top shots these teams are going to bring to the event,” he said.
Ryan says the event is also great for junior curlers who kicked off activities on Wednesday with the Musgrave Agencies junior curling clinic and the Astec Safety future stars of the game demo.
“A lot of junior curlers can be up close and personal with a lot of top curlers in the world. I think it will be a very memorable event for them,” he said.
Tyson also says the event will get kids really excited about the game leading up to the annual Vic Backer junior curling bonspiel in the first week of February.
“It will be interesting to see what the teams look like this year and it’s always exciting to see the finals and the semi finals play out at that event,” he said.
