The Saskatoon foursome skipped by Steve Laycock will represent the province at next month’s Brier in Kamloops, B.C., after defeating Brock Virtue of Regina 7-6 in Sunday’s final of the SaskTel Tankard in Shaunavon.
Laycok scored a pair in the fifth end to break a 3-3- tie and then added a steal in the sixth to extend his lead to 6-3.
The game came to a head in the eighth end when Laycock picked up a steal of one after Virtue came up short on a draw to the four-foot.
That led to a frustrated Virtue breaking the head off his broom behind the scoreboard and resulted in officials immediately ejecting him from the game, leaving the team with just three players to finish the game.
Officials had already warned Virtue’s squad about their behaviour during the game and the skip’s ejection marked the second straight year a Virtue team member had been removed from a game during the Tankard.
Virtue’s remaining teammates managed to score two in the ninth to close the gap to 7-5, but Laycock ended the game with a hit on his final stone.
