With the calendar flipped over to 2018, the anticipation continues to rise for the SaskTel Tankard Men's Provincial Curling Championships being held in Estevan from January 31st - February 4th!

On the ice, 16 of the top teams in Saskatchewan will compete with the winner off to represent the province at the 2018 Tim Hortons' Brier, the national men's curling championships. The Brier will be held from March 3rd - 11th in Regina.

Of the sixteen teams, five have already qualified including the Brent Gedak rink, representing the Estevan Curling Club! Other qualifiers include: Ryan Dies (Fox Valley), Scott Bitz (Saskatoon), Jeff Hartung (Langenburg), and Adam Casey (Regina). 

READ MORE: Gedak Excited To Curl At Home

The Tankard will be played on a specially-created curling ice surface inside the majestic Affinity Place. Ice-makers will begin putting the ice in place after the weekend on January 21st, plenty of time to get it into pristine condition before the event begins ten days later.

Helen Fornwald & Leah Moriarty, Co-Chairs Of The 2018 SaskTel Tankard.

HELEN FORNWALD:

For the local organizing committee of the 2018 SaskTel Tankard, the past 12+ months have flew by with hundreds of hours already put into planning, gathering sponsorships, recruiting volunteers and shaping up how the week of the event will play out.

Led by Tankard Co-Chairs Helen Fornwald and Leah Moriarty, the committee is confident that this will be another tremendous showcase of our community to the province of Saskatchewan.

"At this point, we're more excited than nervous. Everything is coming together nicely so far," expressed Fornwald who stopped by the radio station on Monday morning. "The community's support has been phenomenal, we can't thank them enough."

"Estevan and area just gets behind events like this every time, it's terrific."

Fornwald adds that the business community has also stepped up in a big way through financial and in-kind sponsorships for the Tankard.

"Leah and I want to highlight our sponsorship committee for their hard work," adds Fornwald. "Without the financial contribution of Estevan and area, we couldn't have hosted this event."

The push for volunteers has been largely successful to this point, but the need is still very much out there. Those interested in helping out with one or more of the areas in need, for as little as a few hours and as much as the entirety of the event, can contact the committee by emailing tankardvolunteers@gmail.com or CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!