Bob Smallwood hopes to take his rink one shot further than last year at the Tim Hortons Brier this weekend.

The Yukon skipper was a shot away from the main draw in Calgary last season, but his extra-end freeze attempt overcurled by a hair – handing Prince Edward Island’s Adam Casey a 7-6 win alongside a berth in the main draw.

Tonight, the 41-year-old Smallwood begins another tough assignment as his rink will battle three other jurisdictions in a pre-qualifying tournament at the 2016 Brier in Ottawa.

Joined this year by third Jon Solberg, second Clint Abel, lead Scott Odian and fifth David Rach, Smallwood will take on each of Nova Scotia, Nunavut and Northwest Territories in hopes of becoming the 12th team in a loaded Brier field.

The 2016 Canadian men’s curling championship includes many of the world’s top teams, including Pat Simmons, Glenn Howard, Brad Jacobs, Kevin Koe, Brad Gushue, Jean-Michel Ménard and Mike McEwen.

To join the field, Smallwood will need to qualify for Saturday’s play-in game – then win it – following a mini round-robin event that also features Halifax skip Jamie Murphy, Yellowknife’s Jamie Koe and Iqaluit newcomer Wade Kingdon.

Jamie Koe’s N.W.T. rink finished last in the main draw last year.

Led by Smallwood, who has three prior Brier appearances, Yukon will square off with Murphy at 7 p.m. ET tonight at TD Place, and will move on to face Nunavut and N.W.T. tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. and 4:20 p.m., respectively.

The teams with the two best records in the mini-tournament will clash once more in the play-in game live on TSN Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

If necessary, a tiebreaking game is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

“It means a lot, just like it would for anybody,” Smallwood said in January.

“Getting back to the Brier with three quarters of my old team and a couple of new guys ... it’s going to be good.”

Paslawski, Eby sweep up Travelers victories

Closer to home, Pat Paslawski and Laura Eby secured the territory’s entries into the 2016 Travelers Curling Club Championships last weekend.

The Whitehorse Curling Club playdowns doubled as the Yukon championships for the event, as no teams from any community clubs showed interest this year.

The 2016 event, which doubles as the Canadian club curling championships – will be hosted in Kelowna, B.C., Nov. 20 to 26.

Former event champ Paslawski beat out Dustin Mikkelsen’s side in two straight to win the territorial berth. Scores were 7-3 and 7-6.

Paslawski’s rink also includes third Richard Weihers, second Tyler Williams and lead Trent Derkatch.

Team Eby downed Maureen Birkel’s team 10-3 and 10-7 to take the women’s side, continuing a stellar season that included a title win at the Ladies Bonspiel and a berth in the Pacific International Cup.

Eby’s longtime team is made up of third Lorna Spenner, second Janine Peters and lead Deb Enoch.

Both teams saw their second games decided in an extra end.

Last year’s Yukon representatives were Jim Sias and Jody Smallwood.