(CurlManitoba Release) Stolen three-enders on the fifth ends were keys to the final result of both Co-ops of Manitoba Junior Championships final games in Morris Sunday afternoon.
Evan Boutet and his Heather team (Luc Cormier, Bryce Buchel, Quinn Lagace, Coach Blaine Malo) have won their second Manitoba championship of the 2025-26 curling season. The recently crowned Manitoba U-18 champions made it two for two this afternoon in Morris with a victory over Nash Sugden (Morden) in the final game of the Co-ops of Manitoba Junior Men’s Championship.
Boutet’s stolen three on the fifth gave them a 6-1 lead enroute to a 7-4 victory.
Sugden (Tyler Fehr, Tanner Treichel, Ryan Thiessen, Coach Lorne Hamblin) posted a 6-5 win over Boutet in the Page 1v2 game Sunday morning before the Heather team bounced back for a 5-4 victory over Blake Good (West St. Paul), in the semi-final. The Good foursome had eliminated Rylan Campbell (Heather) in the Page 3v4 game.
Sugden and his team had run through the round robin with a 5W-2L record. Boutet, Campbell, and Good had equal 4W-3L records with Team Boutet earning second place on tiebreakers.
Both teams will go to the national championship in Sudbury, March 28 to April 4, 2026. Team Boutet, as provincial champion, will wear the Manitoba #1 label with Team Sugden as Manitoba #2. The second berth is awarded annually based on the performance of the provincial champion team.
The last team to skip the Manitoba U-18 and U-20 champions in the same year was skipped by Carman’s Shaela Hayward in 2024.
Hayward’s team (Keira Krahn, India Young, Dayna Wahl, Coach Ron Westcott) won the Co-ops of Manitoba Junior Women’s championship for third year in a row (for Hayward and Krahn and two in 3 years for Young). They will be the sole Manitoba Junior Women’s team at the nationals.
Shaela Hayward, Keira Krahn, India Young, Dayna Wahl, Coach Ron Westcott
Team Hayward defeated Cassidy Dundas and her Heather team (Lauren Evason, Eryn Czirfusz, Tessa Terrick, Coach Craig Terrick) 6-5 in the Sunday afternoon final.
Hayward’s stolen three on the fifth end gave them a 5-2 lead but Dundas fought back to tie 5-5 coming home. A challenging last stone in-turn tap by Dundas didn’t curl quite enough to navigate a narrow port, leaving Hayward’s buried shot stone in the four foot circle as the winning point.
Dundas and her team had lost the Page 1v1 game Saturday evening to Hayward (6-3) but bounced back in the Sunday semi-final to defeat Bethany Allan (Granite) by the identical score. Allan had beaten Samantha Eagles 6-4 in the Page 2-2 game.
Hayward and Dundas both had 5W-0L records in the preliminary round-robin. Eagles had a 4w-1L record and Allan was at 3W-2L.
A 4 wins – 1 loss round robin record and three consecutive playoff wins over Canadian Open Stick champions has earned Bill & Judy Kitching (Stonewall) the championship in the Manitoba Stick Curling Association’s inaugural Sun Life Mixed Championship presented by Jim Anton.
Sun Life’s Jim Anton presents the new Mixed Stick trophy to Bill & Judy Kitching
The Kitchings finished second in their six team pool and advanced to play 2025 Canadian Open champion Ralph Nespor and his mixed partner Norma Purdy (Stonewall/Assiniboine Memorial). The win over Nespor/Purdy put them into the semi-final, where they defeated 2023 Canadian Open champion Norm Magnusson and his mixed team partner Melanie Shura (Fort Rouge).
That set up the final game against 2019 Canadian Open champion Ross MacMillan and his partner (and sister) 2024 Manitoba Women’s champion Bev Schick (Warren/St. Vital). McMillan/Schick had beaten them in the round robin to earn first place in the pool. Down one coming home, MacMillan/Schick could score only one to tie. With the hammer on the extra end, the Kitchings were able to score a point for a 4-3 victory.
To reach the final, MacMillan/Schick had beaten David Green/Arlene Deprez (Stonewall) who had won their pool with an unbeaten 5W-0L record.
In the Bronze Medal game, between Magnusson/Shura and Green/Deprez, two deuces and a stolen single point gave Magnusson/Shura an insurmountable 5-2 lead coming home.
The fourth pool winners, Jim Webster/Darlene Maywood (Stonewall/St. Vital) were also unbeaten before losing their first playoff game to Magnusson/Shura.
Nespor/Purdy had a 5W-0L record in winning their pool while MacMillan/Schick had a 4W-1L record to finish first in their group.
The other two playoff qualifiers were Blair Coggan & Brenda Woods/Stonewall and Harold Peterson/Donna Borkowsky/Beaiusejour.
(CurlManitoba Release: Saturday, February 7)Manitoba will have a new Men’s curling champion when the Bunge Championship final game ends on Sunday in Selkirk.
Defending champion, and #1 seed, Reid Carruthers and his Granite team were eliminated from the competition Saturday afternoon by Kelly Marnoch and his Carberry foursome. Although there are members of the three remaining teams who have won Manitoba championships at the Mixed, U-18 and Junior Men’s levels, to date none of the remaining competitors have earned a trip to the Canadian Men’s Championship Brier.
Braden Calvert defeated previously unbeaten Jordon McDonald to advance to the final for a second year in a row
Those three remaining teams include Braden Calvert-Heather (Corey Chambers, Kyle Kurz, Brendan Bilawka, Alternate Rob Gordon), Jordon McDonald-Assiniboine Memorial (Jacques Gauthier, Elias Huminicki, Cam Olafson, Coach Bryan Miki), and Brett Walter-Assiniboine Memorial (Julien Leduc, Graham McFarlane, Hugh McFarlane).
Calvert won the Page 1-2 playoff game 8-7 Saturday evening over McDonald. The previously undefeated McDonald foursome led 5-3 at the mid-game break but gave up five points over the next four ends to trail 8-6 coming home. Facing a McDonald stone on the button, Calvert made a near perfect freeze with his final stone on the home end. McDonald was unable to do anything with it and scored just a single point.
Team Calvert advances to Sunday’s 3PM Bunge Championship final.
Team McDonald drops into the 9:30AM semi-final against Team Walter who ousted Kelly Marnoch-Carberry in the Page 3-4 game when the Winnipeg team ran them out of stones in the tenth end for a final 8-6 score.
The Marnoch foursome earned their spot in the Saturday evening game with their win over Carruthers. Team Walter’s Page 3-4 game berth came from a Saturday afternoon victory over Steve Irwin-Brandon.
(Friday, February 6) MCDONALD VS CALVERT IN BUNGE CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE 1-2 GAME: The first playoff games were played in the 2026 Bunge Championship Friday evening in Selkirk with the winners, Jordon McDonald-Assiniboine Memorial and Braden Calvert-Heather, advancing to meet Saturday evening at 7:00PM in the Page 1-2 Playoff game.
The second-seeded Team McDonald (Jacques Gauthier, Elias Huminicki, Cam Olafson, Coach Bryan Miki) handed the defending champion Reid Carruthers-Granite team their second loss of the day, a 6-2 McDonald win. Team Carruthers (BJ Neufeld, Catlin Schneider, Connor Njegovan, Alternate Kyle Doering, Coach Rob Meakin) had earlier lost their A-qualifier game to Brett Walter-Assiniboine Memorial before winning a B-qualifier over Steve Irwin (Brandon).
The third-seeded Team Calvert (Corey Chambers, Kyle Kurz, Brendan Bilawka, Alternate Rob Gordon), playing their third game of the day, were 10-4 winners over fourth-seed Walter (Julien Leduc, Graham McFarlane, Hugh McFarlane). Earlier, Team Calvert had lost an A-qualifier game to McDonald before winning a B-qualifier over Jace Freeman (Virden).
The winner of the Saturday evening McDonald vs Calvert match-up will go direct to the Sunday afternoon final game. The loser will have a second chance in the Sunday morning semi-final.
Meanwhile, the final two playoff qualifiers will be identified Saturday morning at 9:00AM in Selkirk. The C-Side Qualifying games will feature #5 seed Tanner Lott (Fort Rouge) playing Steve Irwin (Brandon) and Freeman against Kelly Marnoch (Carberry).
On the late draw Friday, Irwin advanced with a win over Daniel Birchard (Pembina), Freeman eliminated Cale Dunbar (Brandon) and Marnoch handed a third loss to the Deer Lodge Sean Grassie team (skipped by Justin Richter).
(Thursday, February 5)TOP FOUR SEEDS ADVANCE TO A-SIDE QUALIFYING GAMES: The top four seeds have advanced to play the first two playoff qualifier games in the triple knock-out CurlManitoba Bunge Provincial Men’s Championship underway in Selkirk. The four have won their first two games in the competition. A Reid Carruthers (Granite) vs Brett Walter (Assiniboine Memorial) game and a Jordon McDonald (Assiniboine Memorial) vs Braden Calvert (Heather) match-up will be the feature attractions on the Friday 8:30AM draw. The winners will be the first qualifiers into the six-team playoff round.
Top-seeded Reid Carruthers (BJ Neufeld, Catlin Schneider, Connor Njegovan, Alternate Kyle Doering, Coach Rob Meakin) advanced with an extra end win over Andrew Wickman (Fort Rouge) and a last stone four-foot draw win over Jace Freeman (Virden).
Second-seed Jordon McDonald – Assiniboine Memorial (Jacques Gauthier, Elias Huminicki, Cam Olafson, Coach Bryan Miki) posted preliminary wins over Derrick Anderson (Gimli) and Kelly Marnoch (Carberry).
The first two wins for third-seed Braden Calvert (Corey Chambers, Kyle Kurz, Brendan Bilawka, Alternate Rob Gordon) came over Stefan Gudmundson (Steinbach) and Steve Irwin (Brandon).
Fourth-seed Brett Walter (Julien Leduc, Graham McFarlane, Hugh McFarlane) had their two victories over Marcus Titchkosky (Morden) and #5 seed Tanner Lott (Fort Rouge).
The losers of the Carruthers-Walter and McDonald-Calvert games will drop into B-Side qualifying games at 4PM Friday. The four other teams still alive on that B-Side are Irwin, Marnoch, Freeman, and Lott.
Eight teams will also play Friday in C-Side elimination games. The first four teams eliminated from the new triple knock-out event on Thursday were Gudmundson, Ryan Hyde and Brett Moxham (Portage), and Cory Naharnie (Granite).
thecurler.com 