What an NCAA rule change might mean for junior hockey in Sask.
Nov 18, 2024
Previously, WHL players were declared ineligible to play NCAA hockey in the U.S.
Colton Flasch got Matt Dunstone again Friday.
Flasch won his third straight elimination game against Dunstone, downing the Regina-based skip 9-5 in a tiebreaker at the Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge.
Flasch and his Saskatoon Nutana team advanced to a playoff game against Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs on Friday afternoon. That game was to begin at 1:30 p.m.
Flasch beat Dunstone 6-4 in the SaskTel Tankard final Feb. 13. That gave Flasch’s foursome the right to represent Saskatchewan at the Brier, while Dunstone’s team earned a wild-card berth in the Canadian men’s curling championship based on its standing in the Canadian Team Ranking System.
On Thursday, Flasch beat Dunstone 9-8 in an extra end in the teams’ final round-robin game. That left the teams tied for third in the Pool A standings and set the stage for Friday’s tiebreaker.
In that game, Flasch broke open a tight contest with a steal of two in the seventh end to take a 7-3 lead. Dunstone and his team from the Highland scored two in the eighth, but Flasch replied with a deuce in the ninth to seal the outcome.
Flasch joined Alberta’s Kevin Koe and Team Canada’s Brendan Bottcher as playoff qualifiers from Pool A. Jacobs, the Wild Card #1 entry skipped by Brad Gushue and the Wild Card #3 squad led by Jason Gunnlaugson are the Pool B qualifiers.
Gunnlaugson advanced with a 9-3 victory over Manitoba’s Mike McEwen in Friday’s other tiebreaker.
Gunnlaugson is to face Bottcher in Friday afternoon’s other playoff game. Koe and Gushue have byes due to their first-place finishes.