'A bit of a wild card': Team Muyres ready to make Tankard debut in Estevan

The SaskTel Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championships kicks off in Estevan this week and newly formed Team Muyres is ready to make their mark.

“I think we’re a bit of a wild card, right? On paper, we’d be ranked quite low but if you look at our skill set we’ve been competitive curlers for a really long time,” Dallan Muyres, the team’s skip said.

Muyres, who is a six-time Saskatchewan Men’s Provincial Champion, is leading his team of experienced curlers; Third, Garrett Springer, Second, Jordan Tardi, and Lead, Dustin Mikush.

“Me, Dustin, and Garrett played a little bit together last year on the Deis Team and then you know I got a taste of skipping, loved it, loved the pressure, the environment back there and really wanted to increase my skill set,” Muyres explained, on how he began to build his team.

Tardi hails from Langley, B.C. and has played with Muyres in the past. However, both Springer and Mikush grew up in the neighbouring towns of Foam Lake and Wadena and first met while playing in juniors before moving onto the men's league.

Tardi comes to the team with loads of experience, having a World and Canadian championship under his belt.

“The competitive curling community is somewhat small, sometimes you have to go out of province [to build a team],” Muyres explained.

“You’re seeing it a lot more, even in Saskatchewan. The people who can put the time in and be competitive and run this schedule are getting less and less every year.”

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Tardi noted the cold Saskatchewan winters are an adjustment for him but he loves the curling culture of the province.

“It’s nice see the different community Saskatchewan has versus B.C. There’s a lot more people that know what curling is, which is really quite fun. A lot of people know who we are no matter what club we’re at. We get looks all the time and people coming over to say hi,” Tardi said.

Team Muyres was at the Highland Curling Club in Regina on Tuesday for a final practice before they head to Estevan.

“We had a little bit of a slow start to the year and then in January we qualified [for the Tankard] at the last couple of events and had some strong performances. I think we’re moving in the right direction at the right time,” Mikush said.

“I think everyone plays in this province so they can end up in the Tankard at the end of the year and we’re looking forward to it. It’s been a long road to get to this for this team,” Springer said.

Even though Team Muyres is ranked lower and possibly considered the underdogs, the team is using that to their advantage.

“There’s not a target on our back, so we can go out there and play loose. Hope for the best, make some shots,” Springer said.

“The whole field is really experienced and really quality ... You just have to go one shot at a time and make the most of every shot,” Muyres said.

Team Muyres will open against Team Jacobson at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.