CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker has announced new title and presenting sponsors and a new name for the Manitoba Women’s Curling Championship.

The first event under the new branding will be played in 2025 in Pilot Mound. It will be the CurlManitoba RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS CHAMPIONSHIP presented by Case IH.

“The RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH expands the support of curling in Manitoba which began a few years ago when Rocky Mountain Equipment joined us as presenting sponsor of our women’s championship and as a major supporter of our expanded livestream broadcast program,” says Baker. “We have appreciated the long support of first Scott Paper and then Kruger as title sponsors of our Women’s championship and we look forward to the new opportunities created by the joint RME & Case IH partnership.”

“We are excited to increase our support for CurlManitoba now as the Title Sponsor of the newly named RME Women of the Rings Championship, commented RME CSOO Jim Wood. “RME has a large footprint throughout rural Manitoba and partnerships like this enable us to support the communities in which we serve.”

The 2025 RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH in Pilot Mound will be played in the now-standard format of 12 teams competing in two pools of six teams, with playoffs. Kaitlyn Lawes and her 2024 champion team are the first team to qualify for the event as the returning champions.

Rocky Mountain Equipment (RME) is a consolidator of agriculture and construction equipment dealerships, primarily focused on the CNH brands. They employ over 1,000 people directly and serve tens of thousands more customers and their employees. Operating 43 agriculture branch locations across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as serving customers radiating beyond those three provinces, RME’s goal is to provide a reliable, consistent customer experience through each interaction.

RME becomes only the sixth corporate sponsor in the history of Women’s championship in Manitoba which began when Dauphin’s Sadie Delmage team won the first championship in 1951. The Manitoba Ladies Curling Association was the sponsor that first year but Eaton’s joined as the first corporate sponsor (Eaton’s Championship) in 1952.

Dominion Stores became the second corporate sponsor (Silver D Championship) in 1961 and the MLCA was the sponsor of the Rose Bowl from 1968 to 1972. In 1973, Macdonald Tobacco (Macdonald Lassie) became the third corporate sponsor.

Scott Paper (Scott Tournament of Hearts 1982 – 2006) and Kruger Products (Scotties Tournament of Hearts 2007-2024) round out the first five plus decades of women’s curling sponsorship in Manitoba.

Former champion teams from La Salle and Pembina have won the Seagram’s Whisky Manitoba Curling Club Championships.

Deb McCreanor and her La Salle team (Trisha Hill, Michelle Buchanan, Jennifer Cawson) won their third Manitoba Curling Clubs Championship with a 5-4 win Jennifer Clark-Rouire and her Fort Garry team (Karen Klein, Amanda Hickey, Kristie Moroz) Sunday afternoon in Gimli.

The McCreanor and Clark-Rouire teams had both finished with 4W-1L records in the same round-robin pool. McCreanor’s semi-final with Alyssa Calvert (Carberry) was a re-match of the only game the La Salle team had lost in the round-robin. The La Salle team won that second meeting 6-1. Clark-Rouire and her team, who had lost in the round-robin to McCreanor, won the quarter-final 8-5 over Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge) and the semi-final 6-3 over former champion Marlene Lang (St. Vital).

It was the third curling clubs championship for a team from La Salle Curling Club. McCreanor, with this same line-up, had previously won the event in 2018 and 2021.

In the men’s event, Zach Wasylik and his Pembina team (Jack Hykaway, Josh Harding, Graham Normand, Andrew Peck) needed an extra end to win 8-7 over Corey Chambers and his Fort Garry team (Ian Fordyce, Michael Martin, Brent McCrea, Dan Bender).

Wasylik’s team was the only foursome to run undefeated to the final in the two events. They had a 5W-0L record in the round-robin and defeated Kyle Foster (Arborg) in the Sunday afternoon semi-final. Chambers opened the round-robin with a pair of losses, including an 8-7 loss to Wasylik. The Fort Garry team rebounded to win five in a row, including the quarterfinal (3-2 over Kyle Einarson-Gimli) and the semi-final (5-3 over Ryan Hyde-Portage).

It was the second curling clubs championship for a team from Pembina Curling Club. Wasylik, with this same line-up, had previously won the event in 2022.

The two teams earned the opportunity to represent Manitoba in the fall of 2024 at the national championships in Barrie, ON.

Eighteen different curling clubs from across Manitoba will be represented when the Seagram’s Whisky Curling Club Championships take place at Gimli Curling Club this weekend (April 4-7, 2024). The women’s first games are scheduled for 11:30AM, today with the men starting on the 2:30PM draw.

Twelve teams will compete in a round-robin with pools of six teams in each of the two championships. The first-place team in each pool advances to the semifinals while the second and third place teams will meet in a crossover play-in game. All playoff games are scheduled for Sunday, April 7 with the two finals at 5:00PM.

Three former champion teams return to the competitions with the same line-up which won in past years while one other Clubs Champion skip and a number of other champion skips from other competitions will also be vying for the titles.

In the Seagram’s Whisky Women’s Club Championship, 2020 champion Marlene Lang’s St. Vital team (Pamela Kok, Jackie Hendrickson, Megan Pauls) and 2018 champion Deb McCreanor’s La Salle team (Trisha Hill, Michelle Buchanan. Jen Cawson) will both be trying to win their second Clubs Championship. Both have the same line-up which won that previous championship. Former Senior Women’s champion skips Terry Ursel (Neepawa) and Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge) and this year’s Manitoba and Canadian Mixed Doubles champion Kadriana Lott (Gimli) are among the highly regarded challengers.

In the Seagram’s Whisky Men’s Club Championship, 2022 champion Zachary Wasylik and his Pembina team (Jack Hykaway, Josh Harding, Graham Normand) will attempt to win their second championship together. The 2019 Clubs champion skip, Derek Blanchard (Assiniboine Memorial) returns with a different team but it is the team which competed in the 2024 Viterra Championship. Former Mixed champion skip Corey Chambers also will contend with his Fort Garry team.

As the host club, Gimli is represented by Kadriana Lott’s team in the Seagram’s Whisky Women’s Club Championship while Kyle Einarson will skip the host entry in the Seagram’s Whisky Men’s Club Championship.

Five other Manitoba clubs; Burntwood, Carberry, La Salle, East St. Paul, and Fort Garry, will have teams competing in both the men’s and women’s events.

Beausejour, Brandon, Fort Rouge, Granite, Neepawa, and St. Vital are represented in the Women’s championship while Arborg, Assiniboine Memorial, Charleswood, Gilbert Plains, Pembina, and Portage are represented in the Men’s championship.

The champions will represent Manitoba at the national championship next fall in Barrie, ON.