New Muyres team hoping recent momentum carries into SaskTel Tankard

The curling off-season can see a lot of changes, with teams parting ways or a new crop of free agents available.

From the whirlwind of activity this off-season, Dallan Muyres’ Saskatoon rink emerged.

Muyres, who was the fifth for Ryan Deis’ rink last season, has been a lead for most of his competitive curling career. But he was looking for a new challenge this year and moved to skip.

“A lead has a pretty defined skill set and shotmaking, so I wanted to challenge myself and explore some of the other parts of the curling game,” Muyres said in advance of his first game Wednesday at the 2023 SaskTel Tankard in Estevan.

“There are some different dynamics — certainly the pressure of throwing the last (rock). That’s what I find most appealing about the position.”

Muyres has appeared in six Canadian men’s curling championships as a lead, playing on Saskatchewan rinks skipped by Stephen Laycock (four times), Matt Dunstone (once) and his brother, Kirk Muyres (once).

On this year’s team, Dallan Muyres, third Garret Springer and lead Dustin Mikush knew each other from their time with Deis’ rink.

“It just starts with conversation. Jordan (Tardi) reached out to me over Facebook messenger and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing next year?’ and that’s how most of those conversations start,” Muyres said.

Tardi, who is from Langley, B.C. was looking for a new team after his brother, Tyler, joined Kevin Koe’s Alberta rink and the other two members of his team went elsewhere.

“I heard a rumour from my brother that Dallan was putting together a team so I sent a message to see if there was still an opening,” Jordan Tardi said. “I still live in Langley, so every event, I will fly out a day or two early just to get some extra practice with the guys.”

Tardi brings championship experience to the team; he won the 2018 world junior curling championship with his brother’s rink.

“We had quite a bit of success in our juniors and it was good to see him get picked up by Kevin,” Tardi said. “I was pretty excited for him when that happened because it’s not too often a world champ wants to pick you up.”

After what Muyres called a tough start to the year, the team was able to come together and qualify for the SaskTel Tankard, which takes place in Estevan from Wednesday through Sunday.

The winner of the provincial tournament will represent Saskatchewan at the Tim Hortons Brier, March 3-12 in London, Ont.

“It’s a marathon. You can’t win it in the first game,” Muyres said. “If you’re playing there on the weekend in those playoff games, that’s where you want to be.

“The beginning of our season didn’t go very well — we weren’t winning a lot of games — but now we’re finding our stride. Ever since Christmas, we are starting to make something out of every shot (and) we’re starting to get more value of out every shot.

“I’m really excited about this weekend. I feel like we’re finding our groove and getting in our zone.”

Muyres will kick off his Tankard on Wednesday night with a showdown with Jason Jacobson’s rink. The first draw of the tournament is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.