Manitoba teams skipped by Matt Dunstone-Fort Rouge and Abby Ackland-Assiniboine Memorial have won their respective halves of the 15th annual DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris.

Dunstone with BJ Neufeld, Ryan Harnden, and Colton Lott (pictured with Kevin Chevalier-DEKALB (l) and Jack Maendel-Ecopoxy) had an undefeated run through the bonspiel, winning six games over all Manitoba teams.

Dunstone qualified through the “A” event with wins over Jordan Peters-Morris (8-2) Braden Calvert-Deer Lodge (4-2), and Ryan Wiebe-Fort Rouge (6-4). In the playoffs, the Dunstone foursome won re-matches with Calvert (6-2) and Wiebe (7-3) before playing Reid Carruthers -Morris in the final.

The final game, projected by many as a possible preview of a provincial final in February in Neepawa, saw Dunstone jump in front with a three on the second end in a 7-2 win.

Carruthers had a much different route to the final – never playing a Manitoba team until the final. Along the way they had a pair of wins over Tommy Sullivan (NB) by scores of 4-3 and 9-3; a 7-3 win over Ryan Kleiter (Saskatoon) a loss (8-2); and a win (5-4) in games with US Olympic gold medalist John Shuster.

Like Carruthers, Ackland with Meghan Walter, Sara Oliver, Mackenzie Elias (pictured with Leon Friesen-Meridian) did not play a Manitoba opponent in their 7W-1L run to the title. Preliminary round wins over Kim Rhyme (MN) 9-2; Corryn Brown (BC) 8-4; Andrea Kelly (NB) 7-5; and Christine McMakin (ND) 9-1 followed a first game loss to Delaney Strouse (MN) 7-4. Playoff wins over Casey Scheidegger (AB) 7-0 and Clancy Grandy (BC) 8-7 preceded 7-3 final game win over Nancy Martin (Saskatoon).

Martin had defeated the Jennifer Jones-Mackenzie Zacharias team by a 6-4 score.

Photos: Connie Norris