Monthly Archives: January 2025

WORLD, CANADIAN, AND MANITOBA CHAMPIONS COMING TO CURLMANITOBA’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION OF CHAMPIONS

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With the RME Women of the Rings completed Sunday in Pilot Mound, the Manitoba championship focus now turns to Stride Place in Portage la Prairie as that community gets set to host the 2025 Viterra Men’s Championship.

Thirty-two teams from across Manitoba will compete in the February 4-9 event with, depending on the team, the goal or the dream of joining 99 previous teams in the Manitoba curling history book.

To wish them all good luck, and to re-live their glory days, about 45 past Manitoba champions will be in attendance at the opening banquet as part of a CurlManitoba Reunion of Champions. These “alumni-champions” represent all four of Manitoba curling’s men’s championship sponsorship eras.  In addition, many of them will return for the evening draws where they will be recognized during the pre-game team introductions.

The “alumni-champions” will include over a dozen Canadian champions as well as nine World champions: Don Duguid (1970, 1971), Dave Romano (1972), Kerry Burtnyk-Jeff Ryan-Rob Meakin-Keith Fenton (1995), Ken Tresoor (1996), Reid Carruthers-Garth Smith (2011)

Eight British Consols era champions, led by the legendary two-time world champion Don Duguid, who won his first Manitoba championship in 1957 (68 years ago) playing second for Howie Wood Jr., will be on hand to greet this year’s competitors at the opening banquet. Most of them will return to be a part of the Wednesday evening championship opening ceremony.

Seventeen Labatt Tankard era champions, seventeen Safeway Select/Championship era, and six past Viterra champions will be at the Reunion of Champion banquet. Those numbers include four champions who won two different championship trophies (John Usackis – British Consols & Labatt Tankard, Kerry Burtnyk – Labatt Tankard and Safeway Select, Ken Tresoor – Labatt Tankard and Safeway Select, Reid Carruthers – Safeway & Viterra Championships).

The Labatt Tankard champions will also be part of the Thursday evening pre-game ceremony while the Safeway and Viterra past champions have been invited to be part of the Friday evening pre-game acknowledgements.

Eleven-time Manitoba champion Jeff Stoughton unfortunately has a schedule conflict for the Tuesday banquet but will be among the Safeway champions attending the Friday evening draw.

The group of six past Viterra champions includes three (Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski, Connor Njegovan) who will compete in this year’s Viterra championship. Carruthers, who also won four Safeway Championships, will be coached this year by two-time Safeway Select champion Rob Meakin. Greg Melnichuk, a 2005 Safeway Champion, will compete as one of the final Manitoba Open qualifiers.

This year’s Reunion of Champions and Viterra Championship celebrations will also include the announcement of the 2025 Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame induction class. With the support of the Portage Host Committee, Stride Place  will host the unveiling of a new mobile Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame display which incorporates all 250+ individuals and teams who have been inducted to date. There will also be a museum display including many unique items from the Manitoba Curling Museum available for the viewing of curling fans at the championship.

Tickets for the 2025 Viterra Championship, Manitoba’s 100th Men’s Curling Championship, are available on-line at https://specialevents.strideplace.com/

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The complete 2025 Viterra Championship team list is available at https://curlmanitoba.org/viterra-championship/team-personnel/

CAMERON WINS RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS

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(CurlManitoba Release) DAY 5 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: It took the last rock in the tenth to determine the outcome as Kate Cameron and her Heather team (Taylor McDonald, Allison Flaxey, Mackenzie Elias, Brianna Cullen) won the 2025 RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Manitoba 2025 champions: (l-r) Mackenzie Elias, Kate Cameron, Taylor McDonald, Allison Flaxey,
Brianna Cullen (CurlManitoba photo)

Tied 6-6 coming home, Beth Peterson’s Assiniboine Memorial team (Kelsey Calvert, Meghan Walter, Melissa Kurz, Katherine Remillard) forced Cameron to hit with her final stone but she didn’t have to stick her shooter. Cameron made the hit for a 7-6 win.

It is a second Manitoba women’s title for Kate Cameron who was at third for Michelle Englot in 2017. Cameron and Taylor McDonald won Alberta women’s titles in 2020, 2021, and 2022 with Laura Walker. Allison Flaxey, who won the Manitoba and Canadian Mixed in 2009 with Sean Grassie, won the Ontario women’s title in 2014. It is a first women’s championship win for Mackenzie Elias and Brianna Cullen. (Flaxey was a substitution in the line-up as Cullen was away at the start of the week, competing in the World University Championship where her U of Alberta team, skipped by Sera Grey-Withers won the bronze medal.)

The Cameron team will wear the Manitoba colours at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 14-23, in Thunder Bay.

To reach the Sunday afternoon final, Peterson had defeated 3-time former champion Darcy Robertson and her Assiniboine Memorial team (Rhonda Varnes, Brooklyn Meiklejohn, Kylie Lippens, Erika Campbell) in the Sunday morning semifinal.

The two finalists were both a single loss away from not playing Sunday.

Cameron finished the preliminary round of play with a 3W-2L record, to be ranked third in the Asham Pool and earn the last spot from that group in the championship round. The Heather team won all three of their championship round games for a 6W-2L record and the playoff round bye to the final game.

The Peterson team had finished the preliminary round with a 4W-1L record to advance to the championship round as the second ranked team in the Asham Ultra Force but won only one of the championship round games to finish at 5W-3L. That put her in a tiebreaker game Saturday evening needing a win over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa) to play in the Sunday playoffs.

CURLMANITOBA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO RIVERS

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(CurlManitoba Release) CurlManitoba has announced that the 2026 RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH will be played in the Riverdale Community Centre, in the western Manitoba community of Rivers, during the week of January 6-11, 2025

The 2026 RME Women of the Rings will be the second Manitoba Women’s Championship played in the arena in Rivers. Previously, when the event was still called the Scotties, Gimli’s Kerri Einarson and her team (Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard, Briane Harris) won the 2020 Women’s championship and went on to win the first of their four consecutive Canadian championships.

The Rivers Host committee will be co-chaired by Justin Gerrard and Les Wedderburn.

“We look forward to a return to Rivers,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker. “They presented a very ambitious plan to host our junior provincials in the Riverdale Community Centre a few years ago and created a memorable and successful event.”

The Riverdale Community Centre hosted CurlManitoba’s 2016 Junior Women’s and Junior Men’s championships. The 2016 championship is believed to have been the first junior championship event in Canada, and likely the world, to have been played in an arena setting. Prior to that, Rivers had hosted the 2007 Manitoba Junior Men’s in their old curling club.

The 2016 Junior Women’s event was won by Abby Ackland, Robyn Njegovan, Melissa Gordon, and Sara Oliver with Jack Gordon as coach.  That Rivers event was also a stepping stone to success for the Junior Men’s champions that year: Matt Dunstone, Colton Lott, Kyle Doering, and Rob Gordon. They were coached by Calvin Edie.

Co-chair Les Wedderburn, who chaired the 2016 Junior Championship committee, knows there is a real possibility that many of the competitors that week will be among the players who return to compete in the Manitoba Women’s championship.

“Really, it will be exciting to see how many of those young women return to compete in a women’s championship, nine years after they played here as juniors. We know they enjoyed their week here then and we promise them an equally memorable week next year,” says Wedderburn

Co-chair Justin Gerard sees the potential for another great champion to come out of the Riverdale Community Centre event. “We’ve been watching the CurlManitoba livestream this week and we can see there is great Manitoba talent just waiting to break through. Maybe Kerri Einarson’s first win in Rivers, and her subsequent great success, can be an inspiration,” Gerrard says.

While there is no guarantee a year out who will be competing in Rivers, the co-chairs do offer one absolute guarantee – they promise there will be great hospitality at next year’s RME Championship. That starts with continuation of a tradition that began at earlier championship events – the coffee is always on and it is always free at a curling championship event in Rivers!

CAMERON, ROBERTSON, PETERSON THROUGH TO SUNDAY PLAYOFFS

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 (CurlManitoba Release) DAY 4 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: A pair of wins Saturday by top-seeded Kate Cameron (Heather) and 3-time champion Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial) have earned the teams first and second place, respectively, in the Sunday playoffs at the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Both had 6W-2L records after the championship round but Cameron was awarded the bye to the final game Sunday afternoon in Pilot Mound, thanks to her team’s championship round win over Robertson.

Robertson will play the Sunday morning semi-final against Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), winner of a Saturday evening tiebreaker game over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa). The tiebreaker win was also Peterson’s second win of the day.

Peterson, McFarlane and Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) had all finished the championship round with 5W-3L records. The three had beaten each other in their championship round games so, per competition rules, the two teams which advanced to the tiebreaker game were the two with the best Last Stone Draw totals for the week (total of the 2 draws thrown before each of the 8 games to determine last stone in the game).

Cameron and her team were the only one of the six teams to win all three of their championship round games while Robertson, McFarlane, and Watling each won two of their three championship round games.

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND STANDINGS
6W-2L   Kate Cameron (Heather)
6W-2L   Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial)
5W-3L   Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial)
5W-3L   Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa)
5W-3L   Kristy Watling (East St. Paul)
4W-4L   Lisa McLeod (Pembina)

NEEPAWA’S MCFARLANE LEADS THE RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS

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Team McFarlane, at 5W-1L, is the big surprise of the championship (Photo: CurlManitoba/Big Day Media)

(CurlManitoba Release) DAY 3 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: Hailey McFarlane and her team from Neepawa are alone in first place in the standings after the first round of play in the championship round of the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

McFarlane’s 9-8 win over Beth Peterson Friday evening in Pilot Mound gave her a 5W-1L record, a win ahead of the other five teams who share second place in the standings with 4W-2L records. The Kate Cameron and Kristy Watling teams came into the second round of play with 3W-2L records. Cameron defeated Darcy Robertson and Watling was victorious over Lisa McLeod to create the 5-team tie.

Three teams from each of the two pools advanced from the preliminary round into the championship round where they play three cross-over games against the teams from the other pool. Three teams will advance to the Sunday playoffs.

The top teams in the Asham Pool were Lisa McLeod (Pembina) and Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa), both with 4W-1L records. McLeod was awarded the #1 ranking in the group thanks to a win over McFarlane on the opening draw of the competition Wednesday morning. Top seed Kate Cameron (Heather) missed her chance at the top ranking with an 8-7 extra end loss Friday to McLeod.

The top teams in the Asham Ultra Force Pool were three-time former champion Darcy Robertson and #2 seed Beth Peterson (both Assiniboine Memorial) who also had 4W-1L records. Robertson got the #1 rank in the group because she beat Peterson on Wednesday evening in a game in which her team came back from four down twice. Third seed Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) finished third in the pool with a 3W-2L record.

The teams will play two games Saturday, at 10AM and 4PM, to determine the playoff positions. If necessary, one tiebreaker game will be played Saturday evening. The playoffs are scheduled for 9:30AM and 2:00PM Sunday.

NONE UNBEATEN IN PILOT MOUND

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(CURLMANITOBA RELEASE) DAY 2 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: There are no unbeaten teams left in the 12-team RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH, the Manitoba Women’s Curling Championship underway in Pilot Mound.

The last unbeaten, Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) lost 7-4 on the late draw Thursday to Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial) to finish day two with a 3W-1L record. Robertson, who had lost earlier in the day, improved to an identical 3W-1L record with the win.

With two wins Thursday, Beth Peterson also ends day two with a 3W-1L record in the Asham Ultra Force pool.

Alyssa Calvert (Carberry), who also won two on Thursday, has a 2W-2L record and still has a chance to advance.

Top seeded Kate Cameron (Heather) and #4 seed Lisa McLeod (Pembina) both lost their first game of the day Thursday but bounced back with later victories. Cameron, McLeod, and Hailey McFarlane, who handed Cameron that first lost, all sit atop the Asham Pool with 3W-1L records.

Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite), who lost to McLeod in their second game of the day, split on the day to stay close to the leader group with a 2W-2L record.

Final standings in both pools will be determined by the results of Friday’s 9am and 1pm DRAWS. The top three teams in each pool will advance to the championship round where they will play the three teams from the other pool – with the first round records carrying forward. Three teams will advance from that group of six into Sunday’s playoffs.

SEEDS #1, #3, #4 WIN TWO ON OPENING DAY IN PILOT MOUND

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(CurlManitoba Release) DAY 1 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: Three of the top four seeds at CurlManitoba’s 2025 Women’s Championship, the RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH, completed the opening day of the championship in Pilot Mound with a pair of victories.

Kate Cameron and Taylor McDonald contemplate the next shot in their opening round match in Pilot Mound (photo courtesy CurlManitoba/Big Day Media)

#1 seed, Kate Cameron (Heather), put nine on the scoreboard in both of her team’s victories on opening day at the championship in Pilot Mound, winning 9-5 over Cheyenne Ehnes (Manitoba) and 9-2 over Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite)

#2 seed, Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), started the day Wednesday with a 5-4 win over Alyssa Calvert (Carberry) but gave up a steal coming home to lose 10-9 to three-time former champion Darcy Robertson on the late draw. Twice in the game, Robertson trailed by four but both times came back to tie, setting up the final end steal. Robertson also ended Day One with a pair of victories.

#3 seed, Kristy Watling (East St. Paul), needed an extra end to win her opener, a 7-6 extra end win over Cassidy Dundas (Heather) but then had a seven-end win over Alyssa Calvert on the late draw.

#4 seed Lisa McLeod (Pembina), with wins over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa) and Cheyenn Ehnes (Manitou) also ended the opening day with a pair of victories.

Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite) and Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa), in the Asham pool, and Peterson and Cassidy Dundas (Heather), in the Asham Ultra Force Pool, ended the day with 1W-1L records.

The RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH will continue Thursday in Pilot Mound with draws scheduled for 8:30AM, 12:15PM, 4:00PM, and 7:45PM. One game on each draw will be livestreamed on the CurlManitoba YouTube channel.

HYDE WINS MANITOBA BONSPIEL CHAMPIONSHIP

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(UPDATE: 10PM,20-01-25) Ryan Hyde and his team accomplished three different things Monday evening at Assiniboine Memorial. They had already won the Viterra berth that they had set out to win – a chance to play at home in the 100th Manitoba Men’s championship event. So that’s not one of tonight’s three.

Pick whichever order you want as the more important of these three.

1) They won the Manitoba Open Bonspiel’s Asham event – the undefeated Bonspiel champion.

2) They avoided losing the final game to Scott Moncur’s team from Canmore, AB – and thereby avoided being beaten by what would have been the first bonspiel champion from Alberta in the history of the event which began in 1889.

3) They became only the third team from Portage to win the bonspiel championship in the 137-year history of the bonspiel.

So Ryan Hyde, Kenneth Keeler, Hartley Vanstone, Trevor Munro,and Eric Leduc join 1973 champion Jack Wolfe and his team (Ken Wolfe, Terry Owens, Don Thompson) and the 1989 Don Spriggs team (Kelly Collett, Garry Wright, Clarke Munro) as the only MCA/Manitoba Open bonspiel champions from Portage.

Check the CurlManitoba website for all of the event winners from the Manitoba Open, the Half Spiel,and the New Curlers Fun Spiel.

(UPDATE: 4PM, 20-01-25) HYDE, MAHON, DUNSTONE WIN THE VITERRA BERTHS: Ryan Hyde and his Portage team (Kenneth Keeler, Hartley Vanstone, Trevor Munro, Eric Leduc), Dean Dunstone – Granite (Greg Melnichuk, Al Purdy, Paul Janssen, Scott Kidd), and Mike Mahon – Granite (Blair Smith, Kyle Halford, and a player to be named later) have won the three Viterra berths available in the Manitoba Open bonspiel.

Hyde will play for the bonspiel championship in the Asham event final tonight at Fort Garry against Scott Moncur and a team from Canmore, Alberta. Of note is the fact that going back to the first bonspiel in 1889, there has never been a Grand Aggregate or (more recently) a bonspiel championship winner from Alberta.

Dunstone will also be on the ice at Fort Garry, playing the Tyler Drews Fort Rouge entry in the final of the Original 16 event.

Mahon, who played the entire bonspiel with three players, bowed out in the semis of the Nott Autocorp event but were the most advanced eligible team. They will add a fourth eligible player and the three must compete in Portage to maintain team eligibility.

There will be five event finals at Fort Garry and six at Assiniboine Memorial at 7PM Monday evening.

(11PM, 19-01-25) SO WHO WINS THE VITERRA BERTHS?? Please note: nothing here is OFFICIAL – it is just my best guesses.

The CurlManitoba website is updated to include all results except (obviously) the 9pm Sunday draw – on the ice at time of writing. Based on that ……..

ASHAM MAIN EVENT: Ryan Hyde and his Portage team appear to have won the ASHAM EVENT entry into the Viterra Championship, giving the Portage host committee a home team for their event. The Hyde foursome will play Scott Moncur and his Canmore, AB team for the bonspiel championship Monday evening. Since the Albertans are ineligible, I believe the Hyde team earns the berth, win or lose in the final.

In the other two berth events, the eight semi-finalists include (I believe) seven ineligible teams. Unless I am wrong on some of my assumptions – that means a berth playoff is going to be required.

ORIGINAL 16: Corey Chambers vs Tyler Drews and Jacques Gauthier vs Dean Dunstone. The Gauthier team is in the Viterra already, Chambers is on the Sean Grassie Viterra entry and the Drews team has 2 players already in the Viterra, so all three are ineligible. I believe the Dunstone line-up may include players who are members of different clubs and therefore ineligible (but I stress this is very unofficial, pending formal clarification of membership status).

NOTT AUTOCORP: Graham McFarlane vs Tim Friesen and Shawn Rojeski vs Mike Mahon. McFarlane is already in the Viterra so his team is ineligible and Rojeski is from Hibbing, MN so also ineligible. I believe the Friesen line-up may include players who are members of different clubs and therefore ineligible (again I stress this is very unofficial, pending formal clarification of membership status). The fourth team, Mike Mahon’s group have been playing with three all weekend but I believe they are eligible.

So what all this means (if my guesses on eligibility are correct) is that one berth winner for sure (Hyde) and one berth winner maybe (Mahon) have been identified. The third is probably going to come out of a playoff – but which teams that playoff will involve, I won’t even try to guess.

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FOLLOWING IS THE CURLMANITOBA BERTH ALLOCATION DOCUMENT FROM THE CURLMANITOBA WEBSITE

VITERRA CHAMPONSHIP BERTH ALLOCATION
MANITOBA OPEN
ASHAM EVENT: First Berth
<> The winner of the ASHAM event will be awarded one berth if eligible.
<> If the ASHAM winner is not eligible the berth will go to the Finalist.
<> In the ASHAM event there is no count back prior to the finals as all teams drop to either the Original 16 or Nott Autocorp Events.


ORIGINAL 16 and NOTT AUTOCORP EVENTS: Second and Third berths
If the Asham Event winner is awarded the berth there are 2 remaining berths for 3 teams.
<> Asham Finalist
<> Original 16 Winner
<> Nott Autocorp Winner
These 3 teams will playoff for 2 berths if all 3 teams are eligible.

  1. If one of the teams, Asham finalist, Original 16 winner OR Nott Autocorp winner, are
    ineligible, the berths will be awarded to the remaining two teams.
  2. If two of the teams, Asham finalist, Original 16 winner and the Nott Autocorp winner, are
    ineligible one berth will be awarded to the remaining team.
    <> The final berth will be determined on a countback and playoff game (s) within the Original
    16 and Nott Autocorp Events at the same level.
    <> The playoff game will be determined by CurlManitoba immediately and the teams will be
    contacted.

CURLMANITOBA ANNOUNCES TOP SEEDS FOR RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS CHAMPIONSHIP

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A pair of teams ranked in Canada’s top ten, plus two more with more modest national rankings, have been made the top seeds in the draw announced today for CurlManitoba’s RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Kate Cameron’s Heather team, currently #7 on the Canadian Team Ranking System list, is the #1 seed in the minds of the competing teams in the championship. The event takes place January 21-26, 2025 in Pilot Mound’s Millennium Recreation Complex. CTRS #8 Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), Manitoba Curling Tour champion, CTRS #26 Kristy Watling (East St. Paul), and CTRS #31 Lisa McLeod (Pembina) are seeds #2, #3 and #4 respectively.

Team rosters and season highlights for the top four:

SEED #1: Kate Cameron – Heather (Taylor McDonald, Allison Flaxey, Mackenzie Elias, Brianna Cullen) – playing a mostly out-of-province schedule, the CTRS #7 team had finalist finishes in a pair of early season Alberta events, reached the semifinals of two others, and qualified for the playoffs at the DEKALB SuperSpiel (Morris).

SEED #2: Beth Peterson – Assiniboine Memorial (Kelsey Calvert, Katherine Remillard, Melissa Gordon Kurz, Meghan Walter, Coach Kyle Kurz) – the CTRS #8 team qualified in three out-of-province events, reached the final in a pair of MCT events, and won the recent MCT Championship playoff.

SEED #3: Kristy Watling – East St. Paul (Laura Burtnyk, Emily Deschenes, Sarah Pyke, Coach Tom Clasper) – the CTRS #26 team was a semi-finalist finish at DEKALB SuperSpiel, MCT Atkins Classic, and qualified for the playoffs at the MCT Championship.

SEED #4: Lisa McLeod – Pembina (Christine MacKay, Victoria Beaudry, Jolene Callum, Jennifer Clark-Rouire, Coach Lyall Hudson) – the CTRS #31 team had one win and 3 semi-finalist finishes in MCT events, including the MCT Championship.

The 12-team field includes two more teams from Assiniboine Memorial (Rachel Kaatz, Darcy Robertson) as well as a pair of teams from the Granite (Sarah-Jane Sass, Lane Prokopowich). A second team from the Heather (Cassidy Dundas) completes the Winnipeg club competitors list. Rural Manitoba clubs represented include Carberry (Alyssa Calvert), Manitou (Cheyenne Ehnes), and Neepawa (Hailey McFarlane).

Joining the list of Manitoba Women’s championship host communities for the first time, with a population of about 675, Pilot Mound also becomes the smallest community to host a Manitoba Men’s or Women’s arena curling championship event.

The champion will wear CurlManitoba’s crest at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 14-23, 2025 in Thunder Bay. They will join Manitoba teams skipped by Kerri Einarson and Kaitlyn Lawes who pre-qualified for the Canadian Championship.

CurlManitoba will continue its past policy of livestreaming one game on each draw in Pilot Mound. Curling fans unable to attend in person will find the broadcasts on the CurlManitoba YouTube channel.

ASHAM’S TRURELEASE DELIVERY STICK HELPS ADD ROTATION!

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Quite a few years ago, my 2-person stick curling partner, Norm Magnusson and I decided that we should take up the 2-person game. We hadn’t yet quit playing on a 4-man team and we were still getting our competition from playing at the Seniors and Masters levels.

However, we knew the time was coming when we might not be able to throw with the accuracy that we wanted to, so we decided to dabble in the stick-curling world. At first, it was in our regular leagues. Gradually, however, we started taking in a few of the growing number of 2-person stick bonspiels around the province.

As we began to have a bit of success in those bonspiels, I learned two important things. First, I learned that the joy of competition is just as real at the age of 65-70 as it was at the age of 25-30. The two-person stick game provided the competitive opportunity that I hadn’t really had for about a decade.

Second, I learned that I had to re-learn one of the basics of curling that I had learned as a child – how to get a proper rotation on the stone at the point of release.

I discovered pretty quickly that the same issues I had struggled with for many years were still there: the in-turn being turned across and inside the target, the elbow flared out on the out-turn and therefore outside the target. Plus, I quickly discovered that the extra 4-5 feet of stick exaggerated those problems.

So began my quest to improve my release – on target with a good rotation.

I was quickly reminded that one of the secrets of success is practice and more practice. I tested pretty well all of the available versions of the delivery stick and I learned that every one of them worked OK if you focussed on a clean release with the same hand/wrist action to get good rotation as I’d been using for years when throwing. The more practice, the more consistency.

The practice paid off by gradually getting me to the point where I improved from 2 to at least 3 (sometimes 3 1/2) rotations. It also paid off with a Canadian championship crest which Norm and I still proudly display on a jacket.

The next challenge, of course, was to increase the number of rotations to be consistently over 3, knowing that the stone will run straighter down the ice with the greater number of rotations.

That’s when I was given the opportunity to test the original version of Asham’s TruRelease Delivery Stick. This prototype was straight from Terry Gibb’s workshop. Like Santa’s little helper, Terry said he had been working on a design which he believed would allow greater accuracy of release and which would create a higher rate of rotation.

Easy to suggest these were nothing more than promotional claims for a new product – until I tried it. Just by throwing a few stones one day, I was sold on the concept. As soon as the factory-made version was available this season, I started using the TruRelease and I am even more convinced now.

Both the added accuracy and the extra rotation are functions of the unique design. I don’t claim to understand the physics but, in some way, it relates to three key design aspects:

  1. The design’s push-point is at the point where the handle curls down to the rock, not at the end of the handle which is the most common stick design, resulting in the turn being initiated at the centre of the stone;
  2. The design’s ‘cradle’ fits under the handle, not over the top of the handle which is the most common stick design, and
  3. The design’s pivot-point is about an inch above the handle of the stone which, when push is applied, seems to create a small amount of leverage which transfers back along the handle creating a gentle lift or pressure to maximize contact between the cradle and the stone handle.

The other point that Terry made when he was explaining the design to me was that I no longer had to think about putting the rotation on the stone. He said he guaranteed that if I started the stone with the traditional 2 o’clock or 10 o’clock set and if I gave the stone a straight push to the broom, it would come off the delivery stick with as many as 4 1/2 – 5 rotations.

It works! I am getting those extra rotations most of the time without any hand/wrist/arm action to create the rotation.

Is it also more accurate as claimed? That is tougher to prove but the simple fact is it has to be! Assuming you are lined up properly on the target in your set-up, and assuming you move on that required straight line to the target, the release has to be more on-target than it used to be when problems resulted from the actual movement required to create the rotation.

Is it perfect? No. You’ll note I said ‘most of the time’ above. Simply put, it is human nature to want to blame the technology, not the operator, when the technology fails. However, when those extra rotations don’t happen, I accept that it was probably a fault in my release.

I referred at the top to my quest to improve my release. I don’t suggest that I have achieved perfection – probably never will. However, I don’t hesitate to suggest that, for me, the TruRelease Delivery Stick has got me a few steps closer.

However, it doesn’t mean it will allow me to win a Manitoba championship or another Canadian championship or even the next bonspiel. The trouble is, other people now using the TruRelease, like current Canadian champions Warren Johnson and Dan McDonald, are also improving their ability to get the desired number of rotations and that more consistently on-target release.

The competition continues. It is why we play the game!