(CurlManitoba Release) Randy Neufeld and his La Salle team have won Manitoba’s Strathcona Senior Men’s Championship, with a 7-2 victory Monday afternoon at Heather Curling Club over Dave Boehmer – Petersfield. It is a record setting fifth championship for Neufeld and three of his La Salle teammates Dean Moxham, Peter Nicholls and Dale Michie.

They had previously shared the record with Boehmer (2018, 2019, 2020, 2023) and Lloyd Gunnlaugson who is still the only skip to win four consecutive senior titles (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985).

Boehmer and his lead George Hacking were attempting to win their fifth senior title while Dale Lott, Sean Bracken, and alternate Scott Szydlik were trying for their second consecutive.

The two teams had met earlier in the Page 1-1 Playoff game when Neufeld defeated the defending champion to drop them into the Monday morning semi-final. Boehmer readily won that semi-final over Dean Dunstone’s Granite foursome to set up the re-match.

The final was all-Neufeld for the first four ends with his team scoring four consecutive singles. Boehmer manufactured a deuce but Neufeld  put three more on the board with the hammer on the sixth end and the Boehmer team conceded.

In the preliminary round, Boehmer was undefeated (7W-0L) while Neufeld lost one one game (6W-1L).

Behind Neufeld in the Asham pool, Murray Warren – Brandon also had a 6W-1L record while Mike Mahon – Granite was awarded third place on the basis of the tiebreaker, which is the total of the best 12 draws thrown before the round-robin games to determine who will have last stone in the games.

Behind Boehmer in the Asham Ultra Force pool, Paul Scinocca – Charleswood and Dunstone both had 5W-2L records. Scinocca was awarded second place based on his round robin win over Dunstone.

Dunstone beat Warren and Mahon beat Scinocca in the crossover qualifier games which were followed by a Dunstone win over Mahon to reach the semifinal against Boehmer.

Neufeld and his team won the Strathcona Senior Men’s in 2015 and 2016 and again in 2018 and 2019. They won the Canadian title and the World Silver medal in 2015. Along with alternate Darren Oryniak,  Team Neufeld also has a 17W-2L record in winning the last two Manitoba Masters championships.

The Everest Canadian National Senior Championship will be played in Moncton, NB in December, 2024.

The Assiniboine College Cougars curling teams will be in Fredericton, New Brunswick next week to represent ACC and the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference at the CCAA/Curling Canada College Championships.

The ACC teams will be the first teams to compete for Manitoba since the inception of the event in 2012 but they will be trying to live up to a proud ACC tradition of national curling excellence dating back to the 1980’s.

In 1986, the Cougars won two national silver (Men, Women) and a bronze medal (Mixed). In 1987, three more medals included gold (Men), silver (Mixed), and bronze (Women). Before the national curling program was suspended, the ACC Men won one more medal – gold in 1989.

In the 2024 competition, ACC will have a team in both the Men’s and Women’s competitions, March 12-16 at the Aitken University Centre at the University of New Brunswick and the Capital Winter Club, Fredericton, N.B.

To prepare for the championships, the two teams have played in Brandon leagues throughout the season while practicing each week out of the Brandon Curling Club, under the guidance of coach Maureen Bonar. They have also competed in Brandon, Carberry and Neepawa bonspiels to prepare for the National competition.

The teams include students in a wide range of the ACC program offering.

The Men’s team roster is:
Lead Mateo Otto, Gladstone (Heavy Duty Equipment Technician)
Second: Ryder Chetrybuk, Dauphin (Power Engineering)
Third: Avery Smart, Brandon (Geographic Information Systems)
Skip: Brendan Chubaty, Brandon (Business Administration)

The Women’s team roster is:
Lead: Jada Ricard, Baldur (Business Administration)
Second: Neveah Witherspoon, Carberry (Agribusiness)
Third: Ashlie Jewar, Elkhorn (Social Service Worker)
Skip: Kristen Carlson, Estevan (Agribusiness)
Alternate: Robyn Newsome, Brandon (Agribusiness)

ACC Athletic Director Lindsay McLaughlin acknowledges with appreciation the willingness of local sponsors to support the renewal of the curling program at the college. These include BMO Nesbitt Burns/Parobec Wealth Advisory Group, Brandon Source for Sports, and Steelworkers Union Local 7916.

The final day of play saw medals presented in four competitions at the Manitoba 55+ Games Curling as the Curling events came to a conclusion at the Brandon Curling Club. The events were conducted under the auspices of Active Aging in Manitoba.

In the 4-person team competitions, Patti Ulrich and Brenda Michel earned their second gold medals. Curling with Paul Scinocca and Paul Armstrong, the Winnipeg team won the Mixed event gold medals Thursday. Wednesday they had won the Women 55+ competition with Tammy Selman and Jill Proctor.

The Scinocca foursome had won the first game of the best-of-three series on Wednesday but lost the morning game to Jim Dowsett and his Prairie Mountain team (Donna Dowsett, Bill Scott, Cindy Scott), the silver medalists. They rebounded to win the third game of the series on Thursday afternoon.

The Women 65+ event also wrapped up Thursday. Bev Atkins and her Southern region team (Deb McCreanor, Lynn Sandercock, Anne Mushumanski) came through the “B” side of the playoff to win a pair over Joyce McDougall’s Prairie Mountain team and capture the gold medal. McDougall and her team (Audrey Fleming, Arlene McGregor, Mavis Brown) earned the Silver medal. The Bronze medal had been presented to the Brenda Linski team on Wednesday.

The medalists in the U70 7-team 2-person stick division came from three different regions. Ralph Nespor and Rob Lacombe (Interlake) captured the Gold medal with a final game victory over Fred & Britta Spiring (Winnipeg). The Bronze medal was won by Ron Shoemaker and Dave Drummond (Prairie Mountain). They bested Ross and Darren MacMillan in the bronze medal game.

In the 9-team 70+ 2-person stick curling competition, 2022 Canadian champions Norm Magnusson and Resby Coutts (Winnipeg) won the gold medal, completing the round robin and playoffs with a 5W-1L record. They defeated Lloyd McCabe and Keith Privat (Prairie Mountain) in the final game. The Bronze medal game was also a Winnipeg- Prairie Mountain match with Harold Hamilton and Willie Friesen(Winnipeg) defeating Jake Dyck and Murray Hedley.

Also presented Wednesday, Prairie Mountain region teams won both of the Men 65+ and Men 75+ competitions. Brian Lowdon with Cliff Gouldie, Bob Fraser, and Glen Kyle won the Men 65+ gold medals. Ric Morrison with his team of Ron Cruickshank, Reg Sheardown and Alvin Taft won the Men 75+ gold medals.

The Manitoba 55+ Games will take place in Brandon, June 18-20, 2024. The curling events underway this week at the Brandon Curling Club are a “satellite” event of that larger summer celebration of sport for active Manitoba seniors.

For information about the over-20 competitions and activities in the summer event, go to activeaginmb.ca

The first three sets of medals were presented Wednesday at the Manitoba 55+ Games Curling underway at the Brandon Curling Club, under the auspices of Active Aging in Manitoba.

The shot of the day was made by Patti Ulrich who, with her Winnipeg team (Tammy Selman, Brenda Michel, Jill Proctor), won the gold medals in the Women 55+ age group division. With her final stone on an extra end, Ulrich hit a stone on the teeline in the 12’ circle and rolled to contact the shot Leanne Haight stone in the four foot. The shot gave the Ulrich foursome the gold medals, undefeated. The Prairie Mountain region team (Leanne Haight, Cheryl Bridges, Judy Robertson, Sherry Mullin) earned the silver medals. Earlier in the day, Norma Purdy and another Winnipeg team (Lori Pelissier, Maria Boyd, Laurie Deprez) received the bronze medals.

In the Women 65+ division, Joyce McDougall’s Prairie Mountain team lost Wednesday afternoon to Bev Atkins and her Southern region team. The win for Atkins forced a sudden-death gold medal game to be played at 9AM Thursday. Earlier Wednesday, Brenda Linski and her Prairie Mountain team (Diane Gouldie, Wenda Turner, Carol Toms) received the bronze medals.

The two men’s age groups (65+ and 75+) each had a pair of entries in a best-of-three playoff format. Both ended in two games. The Men’s 65+ gold medals were won by a team skipped by Brian Lowdon (Prairie Mountain) with Cliff Gouldie, Bob Fraser, and Glen Kyle. The silver medals went to Larry Schroeder, Bill Mamchuk, Dan Beaudoin, Fred Spiring and Stu Marshall (Winnipeg).

The Men 75+ division gold medals were won by Ric Morrison’s Prairie Mountain team (Ron Cruickshank, Reg Sheardown and Alvin Taft) with the silver medals going to Gil Van Daele (Prairie Mountain) – Brian Manns, Rae Hainstock, Ray Smart.

The two-team Mixed competition will wrap up Thursday. Paul Scinocca’s Winnipeg team won the first of a best-of-three over Jim Dowsett and his Prairie Mountain team.

The two 2-person stick divisions will also wrap up Thursday with semi-finals to be played at 9AM, followed by gold and bronze medal games. In the U70 competition, the semi-finalists include Nespor-Lacombe and MacMillan-MacMillan (Interlake), Spiring-Spiring (Winnipeg), and Shoemaker-Drummond (Prairie Mountain), In the 70+ event, the semi-finalists include Hamilton-Friesen and Magnusson-Coutts (Winnipeg), and McCabe-Privat and Dyck-Hedley (Prairie Mountain).

A pair of wins Tuesday by four different teams has them leading their respective divisions of the Manitoba 55+ Games Curling underway at the Brandon Curling Club, under the auspices of Active Aging in Manitoba.

Manitoba Curling Hall of Famer Joyce McDougall and her Prairie Mountain Region team leads the way in the Women’s 65+ Division. Team McDougall posted wins over Bev Atkins and a South Region team and Brenda Linski, also a Prairie Mountain team.

In the Women’s 55+ event, Patti Ulrich and her Winnipeg team have also won a pair of games. The Ulrich wins came over Leanne Haight (Prairie Mountain) and Norma Purdy (Winnipeg).

Both McDougall and Ulrich are a win away from being the gold medalists in their respective divisions.

In the men’s competitions, Prairie Mountain teams skipped by Brian Lowdon (Men 65+) and Ric Morrison (Men 75+) won their opening games on the first day of the event.

The Manitoba 55+ Games Curling also includes 2-person stick curling in an open format (men & women competing against each other). A pair of teams won two games on opening day to lead the gold medal chase. In the Under 70 division, recently crowned Manitoba Women’s champions Schick & Kachkowski (Winnipeg) lead the way with two wins on the first day. The 70+ division is led by Swan River curlers Kalynuk & Kalynuk, also part of the Prairie Mountain regional team.

The Manitoba 55+ Games will take place in Brandon, June 18-20, 2024. The curling events underway this week at the Brandon Curling Club are a “satellite” event of that larger summer celebration of sport for active Manitoba seniors.