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.

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.

**

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.