With play underway in Stonewall to determine this year’s Viterra Manitoba Men’s Curling Champions, CurlManitoba has announced that the 2025 event will be co-hosted by the Portage Curling Club and Portage Regional Recreation Authority at Stride Place in Portage.
The 32-team gathering of curlers from across Manitoba will take on special significance in 2025 as it is the 100th anniversary of the very first Manitoba championship played in 1925, and won by the legendary Howard Wood Sr.
Coincidentally, because of the one-year cancellation of the championship in 2021 due to Covid, the 2025 event will also be the actual 100th Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship.
We are delighted to be able to bring the championships back to Portage,” say host committee co-chairs Rob Gemmell and Dean Moxham. “Stride Place is a great curling-venue arena and an ideal size to host the Viterra Championship.”
“CurlManitoba is pleased to be able to confirm the venue and announce it at this time. This allows us to begin the preparations for a true celebration of the history of curling and of this championship,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker.
Portage has hosted the Manitoba Men’s Championship on three different occasions. The 2017 Viterra Championship was won there by Mike McEwen; the 2003 Safeway Championship by John Bubbs; and the 1999 Safeway Select by Jeff Stoughton.
The Manitoba Men’s championship was played in Winnipeg until 1968. That year, it was played in Brandon’s Wheat City Arena.
In all Brandon has been the host city nine times. Selkirk has hosted six times; Portage will join Dauphin, Neepawa and Virden as four time hosts; Morden and Steinbach have hosted twice; and Beausejour, Flin Flon, Thompson, Stonewall and Winkler have hosted once each.
Canada’s men’s curling championship, the Brier, was first played in 1927. In the two years after Manitoba’s championship was established, the Manitoba champions (Wood in 1925 and George Sherwood in 1926) were sponsored by Macdonald Tobacco on good-will visits to Eastern Canada to compete in events against the best curlers in the east. The sponsor and organizers recognized the merits of a national event and the Brier was born.
The Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum Board of Directors wishes to advise of a change of venue for the draw of the prizes in its Manitoba Sports Tickets Raffle. (LGCA License 4051-40340)
The draw will occur at 1PM, Sunday, February 11, 2024 (the original scheduled time) at Veteran’s Memorial Sports Complex in Stonewall – site of the Viterra Championship. Specifically, the computerized draw will be initiated from the Livestream Broadcast/ Media Table area at the “away-end” of Sheet C.
The Viterra Championship version of the tagline “everyone wants to beat the champion” ALMOST came true doubly Friday afternoon at the 2024 Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship in Stonewall.
Tie game – skip rocks to come. Justin Reynolds and his team meet to make a plan. Wiebe as last rock – they know whatever they do, he is peeling the guard but what should they do? The elect to try hit an roll behind – hoping for a break but they roll out. Wiebe peels – they draw wide. Wiebe nose hits for the win.
In this instance replace ‘champion’ with ‘top seed’ and it was #1 seed Team Carruthers, skipped by Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs, who almost got beat. It was 2023 Saskatchewan junior champion Logan Ede, skipping a young Stonewall team, who pushed the top seed to the limit. Tied 2-2 coming home, the Ede foursome was laying three when Jacobs made his last stone hit for the 3-2 win.
At the same time, second seed Ryan Wiebe was pushed past ten ends by Justin Reynolds and his team from Winnipeg Beach. Tied 6-6, Wiebe had last shot on the extra end and, like Jacobs, had a hit to win 7-6.
On the “A” Side of the preliminary double knock-out round, the top seeds joined six other winners to set up the 8:30AM Friday draw, when the first four Qualifiers will be identified for the next Playoff Round.
The teams which have won their first two games, and their Friday morning match-ups are:
#1 Team Carruthers (Granite) vs #7 Riley Smith (Charleswood) #2 Ryan Wiebe (Fort Rouge) vs Justin Richter (Beausejour) #3 Braden Calvert (Fort Rouge) vs Greg Todoruk (Dauphin) #4 Jordon McDonald (Assiniboine Memorial) vs #5 Brett Walter (Assiniboine Memorial)
Meanwhile, the original 32-team has has been cut to sixteen. On the “B” Side of the draw, #6 Steve Irwin (Brandon) has won a pair of games after a first round loss but #8 seed Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge) has been eliminated. The “B” Side survivors are Irwin, Cale Dunbar (Brandon), Logan Ede (Stonewall), Hayden Forrester (Fort Rouge), Jace Freeman (Virden), Justin Reynolds (Winnipeg Beach), Jeff Stewart (Gladstone), and Devon Wiebe (Charleswood).
With two notable exceptions, the opening day of the 2024 Viterra Manitoba Men’s Curling Championships went as might have been predicted.
Many times a champion, Brad Jacobs was one of 36 players who played his first Manitoba Men’s Championship game February 7 in Stonewall
On the first day of play in the 32-team double knockout preliminary round, the top eight seeds are drawn against seeds 25 to 32 while the middle sixteen teams play an opponent closer to their own status according to the draw seeding which is done exclusively by the other teams. The results of those first eight games are considered predictable while the other eight games are usually considered toss-ups.
Consequently, a first game loss by a top-eight seeded team is considered to be an upset and 2024’s first day saw two of them.
Jesse Janz, playing in his second Viterra championship got his first win with an 8-6 win over #8 seed Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge). The Baldur team scored three on the seventh end and broke open a 3-3 tie.
The #6 seed, Steve Irwin (Brandon), also lost his opening game. The Brandon team trailed 8-1 after 6 ends but scored three consecutive deuces against Greg Todoruk (Dauphin) to trail 8-7 coming home. The Brandon team as laying three when Todoruk threw a last stone draw through a port to touch the shot stone on the four foot circle and score one for a 9-7 win.
Dropping to the B-Side of the draw, Grassie faced Dean North (Carman) in a late draw elimination game. Grassie, who had stolen singles twice in the game, was tied 5-5 coming home without last rock and was able to post a third steal for a 6-5 win.
Also in an elimination game, Irwin trailed Greg Melnichuk (Granite) 3-1 at the mid-game break. Irwin led 5-4 playing the tenth and forced Melnichuk to draw for 1 facing two to tie. Irwin controlled the extra end. He had an open hit in the centre of the rings for a 7-5 win.
Results for the other top-8 seeded teams in their only games on opening day were:
# 1 Team Carruthers, Granite: 9-1 win over Brad Micholson, Deer Lodge #2 Ryan Wiebe, Fort Rouge: 10-3 win over Grant Brown, Burntwood #3 Braden Calvert, Fort Rouge: 10-5 win over Jeremy Sundell, Holland #4 Jordon McDonald, Assiniboine Memorial: 9-2 win over Glen Toews, Dauphin #5 Brett Walter, Assiniboine Memorial: 9-4 win over Travis Gregory, Hamiota #7 Riley Smith, Charleswood: 8-5 win over Mark Lowdon, La Salle
With North and Melnichuk, the other late draw elimination game losers were Jeremy Sundell (Holland) and Grant Brown (Burntwood).
Newly crowned Saskatchewan champion Mike McEwen will be in Stonewall this week for Manitoba’s Viterra Championship.
Mike McEwen with his Saskatchewan champion teammates (r-l) Colton Flasch, Daniel & Kevin Marsh, Coach Brent Laing
The four-time Manitoba Men’s champion skip (+ 2 juniors & 1 mixed) will provide the expert analysis on CurlManitoba’s livestream ‘broadcasts’ of the weekend playoff round as well as one preliminary round game.
McEwen has been a competitor in the last eight Canadian Brier championships as Manitoba champion, as a wildcard entry, and last year as the Ontario champion. He is the first skip to win three provinces and has done it three years in a row Manitoba (2022), Ontario (2023), and now Saskatchewan (2024).
As skip of the current #6 ranked team on the CTRS, and as a longtime Manitoba competitor, McEwen’s insights into the skills and strategies of the competing teams will enhance the commentary.
McEwen will join the CurlManitoba crew of commentators which includes Rick Brownlee, Pat Carson, Matt Dunlop, Resby Coutts, Keith Johnston, Norm Magnusson, and Craig Nichol. Viterra representative Ray Baloun will also make an appearance in the broadcast booth during the first game Wednesday morning.
The CurlManitoba livestream game will feature a game from every draw – all 17 games from sheet C at Stonewall’s Veteran’s Memorial Arena, thanks to the technical efforts of Big Day Media and the livestream sponsorship of Sunrise Credit Union, Seagram’s 83 and Pharmasave.
A link to CurlManitoba’s YouTube Channel can be found at curlmanitoba.org
(Updated) Bev Schick and Judy Kachkowski, members of the Fort Rouge Friday 2-person Stick Curling League, have won the Manitoba Stick Curling Association’s 2024 Women’s Championship.
MSCA Photo
Schick and Kachkowski won the 24-team event, February 2-4, in Warren with a final game 4-3 victory over Judy Kitching & Isla Hagborg (Stonewall).
Through the weekend, Schick & Kachkowski won 4 of their five round-robin games to qualify for the Sunday playoffs where they ran off three consecutive wins. In the round-robin, that single loss came in their opening game against Kitching & Hagborg, their final game opponents.
According to Judy Kachkowski, the key shot of the final day came in the semi-final against Heather Fontaine & Karen Pineau (St. Vital). They were in a lot of trouble playing the final end. They used a time-out to make a plan – that plan turned out to be a perfect triple raise takeout to stick for shot and solidify the win.
According to Bev Schick, the turning point didn’t come until the fifth end of the final when Kachkowski scored a three to take a two-point lead coming home. Laying two that end, they actually had a rub and roll opportunity to score four but weight was off slightly so only the three went on the scoreboard.
For those unfamiliar, the unique rules of 2-person stick curling include playing a six-end game using six rocks per end with each person playing all six rocks in one direction and their partner playing them back.
As Manitoba’s newest champions, Schick & Kachkowski will be wearing the Manitoba colours at the Canadian Women’s Championship at Toronto’s Leaside Club in mid-April.
The other qualifiers for the playoff round were: Joyce Dawydiuk & Betty Piotrowski, Fort Garry CC Jean Pattyn & Sharon Biehl, St Vital CC Lorna Marr & Val Kolsun, Springfield CC Britta Spiring & Terri Beaudoin, Pembina CC Alison King & Irene Runolfson, Warren CC
Kudos to Jim Rouse and the volunteers of the 3-sheet Warren Curling Club. The 24-team championship bonspiel was the largest 2-person Women’s Stick event yet staged in Manitoba.
(MCHoF&M Release) Three Canadian champion junior teams, a pair of dedicated long-term volunteers, and a curler with six Manitoba, Canadian and World championships on his resume will be honoured by induction into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame at the 2024 induction dinner, May 5 at CanadInn’s Polo Park in Winnipeg.
Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum President Peter Nicholls extends his congratulations to the 2024 inductee class and to the friends, family and curling fans who have supported their competitive and volunteer efforts.
The 2024 BUILDER inductees include former CurlManitoba President and Curling Canada Governor Sam Antila who has also been a long-time volunteer at Thompson’s Burntwood Curling Club and Bill Biehl, a pioneer in the implementation of organized coaching instruction and coaching programs in Manitoba and three-times past-President of Winnipeg’s Heather Curling Club.
The 2024 CURLER inductee is Ken Tresoor who won a pair of Manitoba Mixed titles along with a pair of Manitoba Men’s championships, one Canadian, and one World title in an over 25-year competitive career.
The three junior champion TEAM inductees honour the 1989 Canadian champion and world bronze medal team skipped by Cathy Overton, the 1994 Canadian champion team skipped by Jennifer Jones, and the 1995 Canadian champion and world bronze medal team skipped by Chris Galbraith.
“We are pleased to welcome these very worthy inductees into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame,” says Nicholls. “Builders Sam Antila and Bill Biehl have played an important leadership role in Manitoba curling. Ken Tresoor and the members of the Overton, Jones and Galbraith teams set standards of excellence which junior teams following them have been challenged to meet and surpass.”
The 2024 Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame Induction Dinner will be hosted at CanadInns Destination Centre Polo Park on May 5, 2024. Dinner ticket prices will be held at $100 for 2024. More complete dinner details will be announced by March 1, 2024.
Interested persons are invited to send an email to mca@curlmanitoba.org to purchase tickets or to request more complete information when the details are finalized.
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BUILDER: Sam Antila was originally from Larder Lake in Northern Ontario where he had been a successful downhill skier. He began to curl when he moved to Northern Manitoba and it became his sport of choice in Thompson in 1982 when he recognized it could provide the competitive sport outlet he had been missing. This led him to a 40-year involvement with Thompson’s Burntwood Curling Club as well as to the boardrooms of both CurlManitoba and Curling Canada.
In Thompson, in the 1980’s, his first involvement with the local curling club was as a member of the bonspiel committee and willing volunteer for other roles as needed. After many years, and many roles, on the Burntwood Curling Club Executive and major events in the community, he would eventually serve as President – but not until after he served as CurlManitoba President and Curling Canada Governor.
At CurlManitoba, it was his objective to ensure that the concerns of Manitoba’s northern clubs and curlers were known and considered in provincial decisions. He brought the perspectives of an active competitor and an active club executive member to the Board table and was dedicated to ensuring that competitive and development opportunities existed for clubs across rural and northern Manitoba.
As President of CurlManitoba, where he was a Manitoba delegate at the regular meetings of the members of Curling Canada, he chaired the Provincial Associations Council at the national meetings and was recruited to serve as a Governor of Curling Canada. He served a two-year term (2018-19 & 2019-20) as Governor. His very recent experience at the provincial association level provided representation of provincial concerns in discussions of the same and new issues – but now from the national perspective.
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BUILDER: Bill Biehl was one of the first to become involved in Manitoba when the Curl Canada technical coach-instruction program was implemented in the 1970’s. He became certified as a Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Course Conductor and from 1978 to 1985, he served as Manitoba’s Provincial Coordinator (known at the time as the Master Course Conductor). In this capacity, he organized instructional programs and helped to train an estimated 400 curlers to serve as course instructors and curling coaches.
During the approximately two decades when the MCA & MLCA offered their junior curling camps program, Bill dedicated much of each summer to an instructor role. In the years 2003-2006, when he was the CurlManitoba Technical Director, he also took the lead role in organizing the junior instructional camps. He retired from CurlManitoba and direct involvement in coach-instructor training in 2006 when he took on a one-year assignment as a national coach-instructor in Italy.
At the club level, beginning as Junior Coordinator, and continuing for thirteen years, he was a member of the executive of the Heather Curling Club. He served as club President in 1983-84. He returned to the Executive and again served as President in 2010-11 and 2011-12. At the same time, he served as a member of the CurlManitoba Board of Directors for a three-year term (2010-11 to 2012-13).
For several years prior to 1993, Bill Biehl was the only certified national official in Manitoba. During the late 1980’s and in the 1990’s he was head official for several Manitoba Men’s, Scotties, Juniors, and Mixed Championships, an on-ice official on many other occasions at provincial, national events., and. His officiating assignment included Brandon’s 1995 Worlds (On-ice Official) and the 1997 Canadian Seniors – Nipawin, SK (Head Official).
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CURLER: Ken Tresoor played in his first Manitoba Junior Championship in 1985 and competed in a total of 22 Manitoba championships (2 Junior, 16 Men’s, 4 Mixed) by the time of his final appearance at the Men’s championship in 2012. He won Manitoba Mixed Championships with Howard Restall (1990) and Jeff Stoughton (1994). He won Manitoba Men’s titles with Jeff Stoughton in 1991 and 1996 and the 1996 team went on to win Canadian and World Championships. The 1996 team compiled a 30W-5L record in winning the Manitoba, Canadian and World titles. His overall championship win-loss record was 128W-61L in 27 championship appearances.
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TEAM OVERTON 1989: The 1989 Canadian Junior Women’s Champion team of Cathy Overton, Tracy Baldwin. Carol Harvey, and Tracy Bush won events in both the Junior Women’s and MLCA bonspiels and posted a 5W-1L record to win the Manitoba Junior Women’s title.
The team had the unique experience of not having to travel outside the province to win the Canadian juniors and advance to the World championship.
Playing at home at the Heather Curling Club, the team won the Canadian Championship and that trip to the world championship with a perfect 11W-0L record.
The Worlds was played in Portage la Prairie. Overton’s Team Canada finished with a 9W-2L record – they finished the round robin at 8W-1L (tied for first with Scotland) but lost a semifinal game 8-7 to Sweden before beating Switzerland 8-1 to win the bronze medal.
Cathy Overton was named All-Star skip at both the Canadian and World Championships. Tracy Baldwin was all star third at the Canadians and Tracy Bush was all star lead at the Worlds.
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TEAM JONES 1994: Since the inception of world championship play, the 1994 Canadian Junior Women’s champion team has the unique (and unfortunate) distinction of being the only Canadian Junior champion team to not compete at a world championship. Jennifer Jones, Trisha Baldwin, Jill Officer and Dana Malanchuk showed a progression of success. In 1992, they lost the Manitoba Junior final. They won Manitoba in 1993 and finished fifth at Canadians. In 1994, they were undefeated (6W-0L) to win Manitoba again and won the Canadian title with an 11W-4L record.
Due to change in qualifying protocol, they did not have an opportunity to play at the Worlds but rather had an assured spot in the next year’s Canadian playoffs round. They also had the chance to compete again to be Team Manitoba but lost the 1995 final. The Canadians in 1995 became a sudden-death affair – dropped into the playoff round as Team Canada, they lost their first game. One and done, they missed their World championship opportunity.
Jennifer Jones was co-All-Star skip at the 1994 Canadian Championship.
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TEAM GALBRAITH 1995: In 1995, brothers Chris (Skip) & Bryan (lead) Galbraith joined forces with Scott Cripps (third) and Brent Barrett (second) to record a 25W-6L record in winning the Manitoba and Canadian Junior Men’s titles and the World bronze medal.
The 1994-95 line-up proved to be a winning combination. The Fort Rouge team recorded 6W-1L and 10W-3L records in winning the Manitoba and Canadian Championships.
As Team Canada at the World Juniors in Perth, Scotland the Galbraith team finished the round robin with an 8W-1L record to tie for first in the standings with Scotland’s Tom Brewster team. Team Galbraith bounced back from a semi-final loss to Germany to beat Sweden in the bronze medal game while Scotland won the gold medal.
Chris Galbraith was the Canadian Championship All-Star skip and received the World Junior Men’s Sportsmanship Award.
(CurlManitoba Release) CurlManitoba has announced the top five seeds and published the draw for the 2024 Viterra Championship in Stonewall.
Stonewall will host the men’s championship for the first time.
The first five seeds are all in the top 40 of the Canadian Team Ranking (CTRS) and four of them are in the top 25.
Rated number one by the competitors in the competition is the Reid Carruthers team with 2014 Olympic Champion Brad Jacobs added to the line-up. Carruthers (2011) and Jacobs (2013) are the only former Brier champions in the field of 32 teams qualified for the Viterra Championship.
THE TOP FIVE SEEDS ARE:
#1 SEED: Reid Carruthers, long-time teammate Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan and Coach Rob Meakin lost the Manitoba final a year ago to Matt Dunstone. Brad Jacobs has joined the team and will skip the team for his first Manitoba championship. Team Carruthers, representing the Granite Curling Club, had early season success with a victory in the PointsBet International and are currently the #5 ranked team on the CTRS. In a modestly successful season, they qualified for the final eight playoff on four other occasions before reaching the final in the mid-January bonspiel in Lloydminster.
#2 SEED: The Ryan Wiebe team (Ty Dilello, Sean Flatt, Adam Flatt, Don Harvey, Coach Tom Clasper) lost the Manitoba semi-final two years ago and reached the 8-team championship round last season. The Fort Rouge team has yet to taste victory this season playing a mostly out-of-province schedule. However, their record has them ranked at #15 on the CTRS. They have qualified for the final eight playoff six times with three semi-finals, including the Mother Club Classic at Winnipeg’s Granite CC, and one final appearance, at the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris.
#3 SEED: Braden Calvert’s Fort Rouge team includes long-time teammate Kyle Kurz with Corey Chambers and Brenda Bilawka added to the roster this year. Playing a mostly Manitoba schedule they have still achieved the #23 CTRS ranking, winning the DEKALB SuperSpiel and Atkins Classic and losing the final of two other events. Calvert and Kurz qualified for the Manitoba final four a year ago but lost the semi-final to Carruthers.
#4 SEED: Jordon McDonald, Elias Huminicki and Cam Olafson won the 2022 Manitoba U-18 and 2023 Manitoba Junior titles together. With Dallas Burgess at third and coached by William Lyburn, the Assiniboine Memorial team has achieved the #24 CTRS ranking with an exclusively Manitoba schedule by qualifying for the final eight playoff in all seven events they played. The successes included three semi-final finishes and one finalist finish and they won the MCT Showdown at East St. Paul and the MCT Shootout at Selkirk.
#5 SEED: Brett Walter, JT Ryan, and Graham & Hugh McFarlane qualified early for the Viterra Championships as winners of the November berth bonspiel in Gimli. A successful November also included victory in the MCT Curling Cup. Playing a limited Manitoba schedule, the Assiniboine Memorial team had one semi-final and one final eight finish and lost the MCT Championship final in mid-January. They are the CTRS #39 ranked team.
The Manitoba champion will represent Manitoba at the Montana’s Brier in Regina in early March, joining the reigning Manitoba champion Matt Dunstone team (CTRS #4) who have already pre-qualified.
In all 20 different Manitoba curling clubs and communities will be represented in the Viterra Championship. With four teams, Fort Rouge has the largest number of qualified teams.
(4) Fort Rouge (3) Assiniboine Memorial, Charleswood, Deer Lodge, (2) Brandon, Dauphin, Granite (1) Baldur, Beausejour, Burntwood, Carman, Gladstone, Hamiota, Holland, La Salle, Pembina, St. Vital, Stonewall, Virden, Winnipeg Beach
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