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Have no fear, Mini Merk is here.

Anyone who is not familiar with what Tyler Tardi is capable of on the curling ice need only look to the video of his resounding triple-takeout in the second end of the this year’s sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ junior men’s championship last month.

Experience tends to go a long way at a Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championship.

Two teams struggling through their January blues hooked up in a Thursday night matchup in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Hockey League play before an announced crowd of 1,006 at The Q Centre — and it was the Victoria Grizzlies who solved their problems.

Grant Sitton has seen the north and south of it, quite literally, in university basketball. He reversed the natural flow south in hoops among elite players by coming to play in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

It’s Sophie De Goede’s decision. But the Lukan sisters have gone through it. Megan and Kaili Lukan are now with the Canadian women’s sevens rugby team after each playing four seasons of Div. 1 NCAA basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Tyler Soy dished and Matthew Phillips delivered in a 6-3 Victoria Royals victory over the host Edmonton Oil Kings before an announced crowd of 6,389 at Rogers Place.

With four losses in their last six games, it’s fair to say the Victoria Grizzlies’ boat is officially swaying and the team needs to steady the ship as it prepares for a home-and-home series against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.

The hockey landscape in Nanaimo could face a drastic change in the next few months and the Nanaimo Clippers could obviously be caught in the middle.

Rogers Place in Edmonton is the kind of NHL palace to which all the Victoria Royals players aspire. But few will get to after their WHL careers expire. The Royals have yet to produce an NHL player in the six seasons since coming to the Island.