From elite level international competitors and the best of Manitoba’s competitive teams, to the best of our club-level teams and the regular club players, Manitoba’s curling clubs were filled with action this past weekend.

O’GRADY CUP: Fort Garry Over Ste Anne at home

A week ago, the Ste. Anne Curling Club won its first ever match in the century old competition which weekly brings club curlers together for comradeship, competition, and hospitality.

Ste. Anne had never entered the competition before winning a week ago so they brought their “only currently undefeated team” record to Fort Garry Sunday afternoon to meet their challengers. It was a special occasion at Fort Garry as the O’Grady Cup Trustees (Ron Margolis, Rod MacKay, Don Stewart) paid tribute to long-time trustee Ron Lloyd, the Fort Garry club member who had helped organize the friendly inter-club competition for thirty years. A special tribute plaque was presented to the Fort Garry as well as to Ron’s three daughters.

While Sunday was only Ste. Anne’s second match in the O’Grady, FGCC’s first match was in 1930 when they visited Oakville and after 14 ends of play, won by a two-game total score of 25-19. Overall. FGCC has played in 76 games, and a total of 156 members have curled in the O’Grady prior to Sunday.

The Ste. Anne unbeaten record ended at one match. The two game total was 13-13 after seven ends but FGCC outscored SACC 4-1 in the 8th, for a 17-14 victory.

The records show that over 8,400 different curlers have participated in the O’Grady in the 116 years of its existence. Portage (364 curlers) has the most with two other clubs over 300. Glenboro has played in 172 of the 1630 matches, with 3 other clubs over 100.

DEKALB SUPERSPIEL: CALVERT, KANG TAKE TITLES

At the other end of the competitive scale, three of the four finalists in the men’s division of the annual DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris were teams aspiring to represent Manitoba at this year’s Brier.

Jordon McDonald and his crew went undefeated to the semi-final but couldn’t get past Braden Calvert who drew the four foot facing two to win their game. Brett Walter bested Timothy Hodek (North Dakota) in the other semi-final.

The Calvert foursome went on to beat Walter in a game which might have been settled when Calvert scored three on the opening end. Walter fought back with a deuce and they traded deuces after that. Walter was never able to score that extra point needed to draw even. In the end, two more for Calvert on the seventh gave his team an insurmountable 7-4 lead coming home.

The women’s semi-finals were an international affair with Kristy Watling the only Manitoba team to advance that far. The 2018 Olympic Silver medal Kim team from Korea bested Japan’s Kitazawa foursome while Watling lost to Korea’s junior championship hopefuls in the other semi-final. The final was won by the junior Kang team over Kim.

The two champion teams earned $10,000 cheques.

SEAGRAM’S CLUB CHAMPIONS REGIONALS

Regional playoffs around the province this weekend identified 22 teams (11 men, 11 women) to compete in the Seagram’s Whisky Provincials (April 3-6, 2025 at St. Vital). As host club, St. Vital has an automatic host club berth in each championship.

The regional winners include several past champions.
WOMEN: Stacey Irwin-Brandon (2010-2013-2017), Kara Balshaw -Ft Rouge (2023)
MEN: Andrew Wickman-Ft Rouge (2016-2018-2020), Mark Anderson-Riverview (2017), Derrick Anderson-Gimli (2023)

The other regional winners include:
Women: Sheri Horning-Burntwood, Kim Link-East St. Paul, Patti Ulrich & Lisa Dickson-St. Vital, Heather Bartmanovich-Dauphin, Jennifer Clarke-Rouire & Carlene Strand-Ft Garry, Norma Purdy-AMCC, and Karen Sheldon-Granite.

Men: Grant Brown-Burntwood, Jay Kinnaird-Virden, Mark Lowdon-LaSalle, Tanner Lott-Selkirk, Ryan Hyde-Portage, Butch Mouck-Gilbert Plains, Daniel Birchard-Pembina, and Jesse McCullough-Ft Garry.

Meanwhile the Canadian 2024 Club Champions event also took place in the past week. Manitoba’s two teams both earned medals, although neither took gold. The Zach Wasylik team lost the final x to earn silver while Deb McCreanor’s foursome brought home the bronze medal