While last weekend's Saskatchewan men's and women's curling tour events were cancelled by the Saskatchewan Health Authority for having too many teams, this weekend's will be much more subdued.

A total of 12 teams will only be coming to the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre, with the other 10 that were scheduled to come here having their own event in Saskatoon. Many of the teams that will be here in Moose Jaw will feature some rinks with little to no experience together this year.

“I think mainly everything’s up in the air and there’s the uncertainty of what it’s going to be,” said Brock Montgomery, the third on the Kelly Knapp rink, after practiced with two of his teammates for the first time Wednesday night at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre. “We don’t know, first off, even if there will be a provincial playdown for a Tankard or a Brier or things like that. I think one of the main things is that teams are just trying to get out and play and compete in case that does happen to be ready but there’s definitely some rules in place that are making it... difficult. The Sask Curling Association is trying to do the best they can but as it is right now, it’s a day-to-day operation.”

Montgomery understands the amount of caution that needs to happen, even if it means they don't know if there can be a final championship game.

“Even right now as we speak we don’t know if those two pools are going to be allowed to cross over and play each other, so there’s lots of uncertainty but the one thing we do know is that we’re going to get games in this weekend, so that’s the main thing.”

Another curler that hasn’t been able to get to practice or play with his team this year is Moose Jaw's Derek Owens, the second on the Brent Gedak rink based out of the Estevan Curling Club. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a smaller field for the Gedak team at this event, a team that Owens has helped win here the last two years.

“I think with just having 12 teams it’s maybe not as many games to get through on a weekend as if we had 24,” Owens said. “Given we haven’t been on the ice very much yet that might help us out. We really don’t need eight games in a weekend. Five or six might be better speed for us.”

This weekend would be the first chance for teams in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw to play at concurrent events to get points. This year? No one knows.

“Normally we would have a whole schedule planned out, and we would know if we make a final or two, we’d have a pretty good chance of getting a spot at provincials, and this year it’s a lot more unknown,” Owens said. “One of the weekends we had planned has been cancelled. At the moment we only have this and another one on the schedule and we’re not even sure if we can play the other one. We went from normally playing five in a fall to maybe down to be one this year. Our path to provincials is a little cloudier for sure.”

There are a few other local rinks involved, including Ben Gamble and Brett Behm. 

A total of only 30 spectators will be allowed in the upstairs lounge, with no food and beverages. Those spectators will not be allowed in the lobby when the curlers are there.