A good start for three southwest teams at the Saskatchewan U18 Provincial Championships yesterday in Swift Current.

The three Moose Jaw-based rinks that are all representing the southwest region all picked up a win during the first day of competition.

In the men's division Team Behm played in the opening draw and was tied 2-2 after four ends with Team Tessier.

The fifth end is when Team Southwest broke the game open scoring a trio and adding a couple more in the seventh and eighth cruising to a 9-3 win.

Theo Lautsch, Swift Current resident and the lead on the Behm rink, was pleased with the team's start to the tournament.

"This will give us a big confidence booster, winning always does," he explained. "We will just take it into our next game and play like today."

The Swift Current resident was happy to play on a rink that's familiar to him and it's something he believes can benefit his team.

"It's nice being on the home ice and having a feel for home ice advantage and just knowing what the ice is like and helping my team with that," he said.

With the victory Team Behm will take Team Binding at 9 a.m. on Sheet 5 in the morning.

Team Ackerman during their first draw

On the women's division Team Ackerman faced off against Team Fahl during draw number two and eeked out a 6-4 win.

After falling behind 2-0 after two ends, the Ackerman rink responded with three in the third to take a 3-2 lead. Both teams then added two frames with a single point each making it 5-4 going into the final end with Team Fahl holding the hammer.

Team Southwest was able to steal one in the eighth to seal their first win of the event.

They will now play Team Zankl who is 1-0 at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Team Stark during their first win 

The third and final Team Southwest (Team Stark) used consistent scoring to down Team Drewitz in the first draw 8-2.

The Stark rink scored a trio in the first and added singles in the second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh.

Following the win, Team Southwest hit the sheet again during the night draw taking on Team Fedak and dropped their first game of the tournament 11-1.

Team Fedak scored four in the first and again in the sixth to force early handshakes.

Team Stark will play the winner of Team Drewitz and Team Beattie Friday afternoon at 2 p.m.