A busy weekend of curling wrapped up with 8 qualifiers for today's playoff at the Canad Inns' Classic in Portage la Prairie.

Defending champion Steve Laycock found himself down by two in the final end of one of the 4 'C' qualifying events last night, and still managed to punch his ticket to Monday's playoff. Laycock won 7-6 over Winnipeg's Jason Gunnlaugson, thanks to a miss-throw from on the final stone.

"His weight looked good and his line looked tight a little bit, but that was because it grabbed a little bit halfway and then almost kind of scratched a little bit again and went straight sideways," Laycock explains. "It looked like maybe he was going to curl and get to our top 4 one and give us a steal of 1, but then it went straight sideways and we had the biter up there so it was fortunate."

Laycock says it's amazing they've even got a shot to defend their championship.

"It's great to get back in playoffs. We probably don't deserve it the way that game was going, but we're there and we've got a chance to defend our title tomorrow. Hopefully, we can rebound and get a little bit of momentum Monday."

Other qualifiers include Olympic Gold Medallist Brad Jacobs, and World Champion Kevin Koe, who both qualified Saturday night in the 'A' final. The quarterfinal begins at 10 Monday morning at the Portage Curling Club.

Qualifying Teams
Kevin Koe
Brad Jacobs
John Morris
Bruce Korte
Reid Carruthers
Shaun Meachem
Steve Laycock
Charley Thomas

Get the full playoff draw here.