Four of ten Manitoba teams advanced to the Sunday playoffs at the Canadian Stick Championships in Nanaimo but only one was able to bring home a medal.
St. Vital’s Gewen Smith & Lynne Rehbein receive Canadian Bronze Medals from Canadian Stick Ass’n President Randy Olson
That medal was assured when the bronze medal game was a re-match of the Manitoba Women’s championship final game. This time around, Gwen Smith & Lynne Rehbein (St. Vital) defeated Val Kolsun and Lorna Marr (Springfield).
In the Open Division, Manitoba champions Warren Johnson & Dan McDonald (St. Vital) were eliminated in the round of 16 while defending Canadian champions Norm Magnusson & Resby Coutts advanced one step further.
Magnusson-Coutts lost a 3-2 quarter-final to McDougall-Dyke (Nova Scotia). A near perfect game by both teams saw the Nova Scotians with last rock coming home tied and McDougall’s draw to the open rings stopped with a2 inch bite of the back 12 foot circle.
Norm Magnusson & Resby Coutts receive “qualifier” congratulations from Randy Olson
The Nova Scotia team advanced to the gold medal game where they lost to Keith Bennett-Paul Landry, also from Nova Scotia.
The Women’s gold medal was won by Rich-Radcliffe, British Columbia.
Former Manitoba Brad Childe finished 4-1 and advanced to the first round of playoffs. He was awarded the Open event Sportsmanship Award.
** The Round Robin Records of the ten Manitoba teams were: WOMEN 4-1: Val Kolsun-Lorna Marr WOMEN 3-2: Gwen Smith-Lynne Rehbein WOMEN 1-4: Darlene Maywood-Mel Shura
OPEN 4-1:Warren Johnson-Dan McDonald OPEN 4-1: Norm Magnusson-Resby Coutts OPEN 2-3: Don Fischer-Grant Nicolson OPEN 2-3: Fred & Britta Spiring OPEN 2:3: Jim & Keren Rouse OPEN 1-4: Ken & Shirley Strand OPEN 1-4: Tom & Rae Campbell
Smiles after a Manitoba final re-match in the Canadian Bronze Medal game: Lorna Marr, Gwen Smith, Lynne Rehbein, Val Kolsun
Jordon McDonald and Zoey Terrick, Teams Manitoba in the New Holland Canadian Junior, both won their bronze medal games Sunday.
Team Terrick finished second in their pool and won their initial playoff game but lost the semi-final to fall into the bronze game. Alberta beat Newfoundland-Labrador, who had beaten Manitoba, in the gold medal game. Manitoba beat Ontario for the medal.
Team McDonald topped their pool undefeated but lost their first game of the week in the semi-final – a 7-6 extra end loss to Northern Ontario. Alberta beat NONT in the gold game while McDonald’s team defeated Ontario in the bronze match.
(Saturday, April 1, 10PM) MCDONALD TO PLAY FOR BRONZE Jordon McDonald and Team Manitoba will play for Bronze at the Canadian Juniors. Team McDonald lost 7-6 on an extra end to Northern Ontario in their playoff meeting – first loss of the week for the Manitobans. Jace Freeman’s Manitoba 2 team lost in the playoff qualifying round and finishes out of the medal chase.
Zoey Terrick will play Sunday morning in a semi-final game. Grace Beaudry missed the playoffs.
Jordon McDonald’s foursome is the only undefeated team on the Canadian Junior championship.
(Friday Update)THREE MANITOBA JUNIOR TEAMS WILL ADVANCE TO PLAYOFFS, THE FOURTH STILL COULD Undefeated Jordon McDonald (7W-0L), Jace Freeman with a 6W-1L record and Zoey Terrick also with a 6W-1L record are all assured of advancing to the playoff round at the New Holland Canadian Juniors. With a game yet to play, all three teams will finish in the top three of their pools, the finish required to advance.
Grace Beaudry, after two losses in the first three games, has rebounded to a 4W-2L record. With two games yet to play, the Beaudry team can still finish third in their pool and advance to the playoffs.
(Tuesday, March 28, 11:30PM) MCDONALD, FREEMAN BOTH UNDEFEATED AT CANADIAN JUNIORS Manitoba’s two teams, the teams skipped by Jordon McDonald and Jace Freeman, both have 4W-0L records at the New Holland Canadian Juniors in Quebec.
The two teams are competing in the same pool. They will face off on Wednesday evening. It will be the only game of the day for Team Freeman while Team McDonald will play a game earlier in the day.
In the Junior Women’s competition, Manitoba’s Zoey Terrick team has a 3W-1L record in their first four games while, in the other pool, Grace Beaudry’s team has a 1W-2L record going into competition Wednesday.
Jordon McDonald, Reece Hamm, Elias Huminicki, Cam Olafson, 5th Tanner Graham, Coach Blaine Malo (PHOTO: Curling Canada-Christian Leduc)
Jace Freeman, Thomas McGillivray, Ryan Ostrowsky, Aaron MacDonell, 5th Alexandre Fontaine, Coach Graham Freeman (PHOTO: Curling Canada-Christian Leduc)Zoey Terrick, Jaycee Terrick, Jensen Letham, Tessa Terrick, 5th Taylor Letham, Coach Clint Cullen (PHOTO: Curling Canada-Christian Leduc)Grace Beaudry, Emily Ogg, Madelyn Hollins, Mackenzie Arbuckle, 5th Julia Millan, Coach Cal Edie (PHOTO: Curling Canada-Christian Leduc)
Kyle Kurz (Beth Peterson, Ian McMillan Melissa Gordon-Kurz) are the CurlManitoba Chicken Chef Mixed Champions.
Team Kurz defeated defending champion Corey Chambers (Fort Garry) in a final game showdown between two undefeated teams.
Kyle Kurz previously won Manitoba Junior titles in 2014 and 2015. Melissa Gordon-Kurz also won two juniors (in 2015 and 2016) and Beth Peterson won a junior title in 2015. The three also won the Manitoba Mixed in 2020 with Braden Calvert. For McMillan, it is a first Manitoba championship.
(Saturday, April 1) PLAYOFFS SET IN MANITOBA MIXED Defending champion Corey Chambers (Fort Garry) and Kyle Kurz (Fort Rouge) are the A-Side qualifiers who have earned byes to the second round of playoffs Sunday in the Chicken Chef Mixed at Assiniboine Memorial.
In the A-Qualifier games, Kurz defeated Ryan Wiebe (Gimli) while Chambers defeated Braden Calvert (Carberry). Calvert then won a B-qualifier spot with a win over Zach Wasylik (Stonewall) while Calvert won a B-qualifier spot with a win over Hayden Forrester (East St. Paul).
The C-qualifying games continued the trend as Forrester defeated Jack Hykaway (Pembina) and Wasylik defeated Steve Irwin (Brandon) to advance.
Chambers awaits the winner of a Calvert-Hykaway first round game while Kurz will play the winner of the Wiebe-Forrester match.
(CurlManitoba Release: March 31, Noon) CHAMBERS SET TO DEFEND MANITOBA MIXED TITLE Play is underway and reigning Manitoba Mixed champion Corey Chambers is defending his title in CurlManitoba’s Chicken Chef Mixed Championship March 30-April 2 at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club. Lisa McLeod (at third) and Jolene Callum (at lead) return with Chambers to defend. They are joined by Julien Leduc, throwing second stones.
Last year’s champion Chambers team – with Nigel Milnes at second, replaced this year by Julien Leduc.
Fifteen teams from across Manitoba are competing in the championship.
The field includes three-time champion skip Sean Grassie and his Deer Lodge team. Grassie won the Manitoba title in 2009, 2012, and 2014. He won the Canadian Championship in 2009 and with Allison Nimik, went on to win Canada’s first ever World Mixed Doubles medal.
Manitoba’s 2020 Mixed champion skip, Braden Calvert (Carberry), is also competing in the 2023 championship.
Notable among multiple former Manitoba champions, across many categories, are three-time Mixed champions Kerri & Kyle Einarson. They won the championship in 2013 with Terry McNamee, 2015 with Jared Kolomaya, and in 2017 with Derek Samagalski. This year they join forces with skip Ryan Wiebe and lead Jennifer Clark-Rouire on a team out of Gimli.
Including Calvert and Wiebe, this year’s Chicken Chef Mixed Championship includes five teams from outside the Perimeter Highway.
Sam Antila has brought his team to Assiniboine Memorial from Thompson’s Burntwood Club. Steve Irwin’s Brandon team and Zach Wasylik’s Stonewall team are the other teams from outside Winnipeg.
Pembina (Jack Hykaway, Neil Okumura) and Fort Rouge (Kyle Kurz, Travis Bale) is represented by two teams. Fort Garry (Chambers), Thistle (Cory Anderson), Granite (Cyrus Brandt), Deer Lodge (Grassie), and East St. Paul (Hayden Forrester) each have one entry in the competition.
Justin Richter skips the lone entry from the host Assiniboine Memorial.
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We send heartfelt condolences to Sean Grassie whose father Jack passed away this week. Jack was a fine curler in his own right but in recent years was more visible as an ever-present figure at Manitoba events as the coach of Sean’s teams and played a key role in the many championships won by Sean and his brother Scott.
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