Aaron Sluchinski parts ways with team to join Kevin Koe

Kevin Koe recruited established skip Aaron Sluchinski to join his short-handed curling team.

Koe, a four-time Canadian and two-time world champion, has played with a three-man lineup through two events since he fired second Jacques Gauthier in September.

Sluchinski, from Airdrie, Alta., skipped a team that defeated Koe in the Alberta provincial men's final last season and also beat Koe to open the Montana's Brier in Regina.

Koe denied his prime reason for recruiting Sluchinski was to avoid him in big games.

"The reason we asked Aaron is because he's a really good curler," Koe said Tuesday. "Him being in Alberta, it's really good for practising, which I think is a bit of an underrated thing, and will be really, really good for us.

"As far as not having to play him, that's a bonus. I like that too."

Tyler Tardi is Koe's vice and Karrick Martin plays lead. Koe, from Calgary, says Sluchinski will throw second stones and hold the broom when he throws skip stones. 

"I've always admired Kevin, and he's definitely one of the greatest throwers of all time," Sluchinski said. "Any time you can align yourself with someone like that, that's going to be a good opportunity."

Sluchinski, 37, isn't a stranger to sweeping because he and wife Amanda represented Alberta at the national mixed doubles championship earlier this year.

The 49-year-old Koe says he'll continue with a three-man lineup at the Oct. 17-20 Soo Curlers Fall Classic in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., because Sluchinski is unavailable, but the latter will join them for the Oct. 24-26 Nufloors Penticton Classic.

"I do think practice is a big deal, and especially for our team, where we don't know Aaron great, so it'll have to be a quick learning curve," Koe said.

Koe ranked fifth among Canadian men's teams at the end of last season. He went 2-6 to miss the playoffs at the Brier.

After going 2-3 in September's ATB Okotoks Classic, Koe dumped Gauthier. 

His three-man team was ousted in the second round of the single-knockout PointsBet Invitational in Calgary and went 2-3 in the Grand Slam's HearingLife Tour Challenge that concluded Sunday in Charlottetown.

"Both of us just haven't had the start to the season we wanted to and after we both lost out in P.E.I., they reached out to me," Sluchinski said.

"It's been a whirlwind couple days."

Sluchinski, third Jeremy Harty, second Kerr Drummond and lead Dylan Webster went 4-4 in Regina. 

With Kyle Doering swapping in for Drummond this season, Sluchinski was eliminated in the PointsBet's first round and went 2-3 in the HearingLife's Tier 2 men's event in Charlottetown.

Koe needs to win the provincial championship in February to get to the 2025 Brier in Kelowna, B.C.

Defending champion Brad Gushue, Brad Jacobs, Mike McEwen and Matt Dunstone, who ranked first to fourth respectively in the Canadian men's rankings at the end of last season, pre-qualified for the national championship.

The Brier champion and highest-ranked teams based on points accrued via results through the season will qualify for the 2025 Olympic trials in Halifax.

"Everything that's in front of us over the next couple of years, with the opportunities for the Brier and trials coming up at the end of the year, it kind of aligns with my goals," Sluchinski said.

"Since I kind of started playing a little more competitively and putting in more effort over the last four or five years, I've always really wanted to have the opportunity to get picked up and play with one of the top guys in the sport, so it's definitely an opportunity that I couldn't refuse."