I’m not a gambler – but I understand there are two kinds of gamblers: the amateurs who go on their emotions and instincts AND the pros who go on facts.

Those looking for facts as a basis of their bet on the outcome of the “new” best-of-three final series at the Canadian Curling Trials will be hard-pressed to find a reference point in curling. Of course, there are historical records galore to look at this week – to make your bet before the games start.

But is there any set of facts anywhere that can help guide you after the first game has been played in that best-of-three final has been decided. What are the odds the Game #1 winner – will win the trip to the Olympics? Will they do it in two games or three?

Most curling fans will say there is no real reference point – no relevant example in the sport of curling.

NOT SO!! the Manitoba Men’s Championship British Consols final was a best-of-three playoff for 14 years between 1963 and 1976. So the question becomes – do patterns and results from that long ago have any relevance now. I won’t say they do or don’t – but I will say they are facts, perhaps the only example in the sport of curling.

Here are the facts:
EIGHT finals were won in two games while SIX finals required three games.

Of the SIX finals which went three games:
FIVE were won in three games with the Game ONE winner losing #2 and winning #3
Only ONE was won in three with the Game ONE winner losing both games #2 & #3

It is a pretty small sample size, but I don’t know of any other example of a best-of-three playoff in our sport.

Here are the results of those 14 British Consols finals.
1963 – Hersh Lerner beat Bob Picken in two games
1964 – Bruce Hudson beat Gary Ross in three games (Hudson won #1)
1965 – Terry Braunstein beat Bruce Hudson in two games
1966 – Hersh Lerner beat Bruce Hudson in two games
1967 – Bruce Hudson beat Gary Ross in two games
1968 – Burke Parker beat Ralph Wilson in two games
1969 – Bobby Robinson beat Paul Devlin in three games (Robinson won #1)
1970 – Don Duguid beat Bob Friesen in three games (Duguid won #1)
1971 – Don Duguid beat Larry Taylor in two games
1972 – Orest Meleschuk beat Gary Ross in two games
1973 – Danny Fink beat Clare DeBlonde in three games (DeBlonde won #1)
1974 – Don Barr beat Gary Ross in three games (Barr won #1)
1975 – Rod Hunter beat Barry Fry in three games (Hunter won #1)
1976 – Clare DeBlonde beat Terry Braunstein in two games

As for trying to predict who would be in the best-of-three final, history tells us that most of the teams in that list were beginning their great careers and no doubt most would have been picked to be among the favourites in that particular year. However, there are just enough names in the list to tell you “when they start even, anyone can win”. 1968, of course,is the best example of that when Parker and Wilson, two Dauphin area teams, played the final in Brandon while the high profile teams all watched.

What about picking the winner between the final two. Parker-Wilson was a coin-toss! Gary Ross may not have been highly regarded in 1964 but three more in the next ten years was no surprise. Picken was well regarded in ’63 so that year was probably a coin-toss final as well. In fact most were, although there were some clear favourites. Robinson over Devlin in 1969, Duguid over Friesen in 1970, and Duguid over Taylor in 1971 was probably the three year period in those 14, when most would have bet the winner in advance.

As for a long-shot bet to win, at the start of the 1968 event, both Parker and Wilson would have been called that. However, Barr over Ross in ’74 might best fit that description once the final two teams were decided.

(CurlManitoba Release) For only the fifth time in over 100 years, the Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship will have a new title sponsor when the event takes place at Selkirk Recreation Complex on February 3-8, 2026.

As a result of Viterra’s successful business combination with Bunge, the former Viterra Championship will become the Bunge Championship for 2026.

Bunge is only the fifth title sponsor in the history of the men’s championship event.

“We are extremely pleased to have Bunge carry forward the great relationship which we have developed with Viterra,” says Craig Baker, Executive Director of CurlManitoba. “We have always felt that Manitoba curling has an international stature and that is only enhanced by Bunge’s international name recognition.”

“We’re excited to continue our partnership with CurlManitoba, which is a great opportunity to support one of the province’s premier sporting events, as well as local talent from across its communities,” said Kyle Jeworski, head of Canada, Bunge.  “Most importantly, the values exhibited by our curlers – integrity, respect for others, and teamwork – are qualities that are shared by our employees as they work to provide our farm customers with superior service.”

Competitors will not just have a new name in Selkirk but a new format as well. The 24-team competition will be played as a triple knock-out. Six teams will advance to the playoffs.

“A change of format has been under consideration by our competitions committee for a few years and the time is now right to make the change,” Baker says. “We celebrated 100 years of men’s championship competition last year in Portage. There were decades of tradition in the former 32-team format and our committee, who are all competitors themselves, wanted to respect that tradition as we celebrated 100 years.”

Six of the first 100 Manitoba Men’s Championships were played in Selkirk. Most recently, the 2022 championship was played in the Selkirk Curling Club and won by Mike McEwen.  Prior to that McEwen’s team had also won in 2016 in the Selkirk Recreation Complex.  Previous arena championships in Selkirk were played in 2009 (won by Jeff Stoughton), 2005 (won by Randy Dutiaume), 2001 (won by Kerry Burtnyk), and 1993 (won by Vic Peters).

About Bunge: At Bunge (NYSE: BG), our purpose is to connect farmers to consumers to deliver essential food, feed and fuel to the world. As a premier agribusiness solutions provider, our team of ~37,000 dedicated employees partner with farmers across the globe to move agricultural commodities from where they’re grown to where they’re needed—in faster, smarter, and more efficient ways. We are a world leader in grain origination, storage, distribution, oilseed processing and refining, offering a broad portfolio of plant-based oils, fats, and proteins. We work alongside our customers at both ends of the value chain to deliver quality products and develop tailored, innovative solutions that address evolving consumer needs. With 200+ years of experience and presence in over 50 countries, we are committed to strengthening global food security, advancing sustainability, and helping communities prosper where we operate. Bunge has its registered office in Geneva, Switzerland and its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

There may be no right answer in the current discussion about parking lot, affordable housing project, and future of the Granite. I have to admit I would not want to be a Granite CC Board member OR a City of Winnipeg Councillor or bureaucrat right now. For sure, I wouldn’t want to be member of The Municipal Board charged with the final decision. (That Board reconvenes todayfor the four day of hearings.)

However, curling has been my sport from the time I played my first game with my dad at the age of seven – so I have an obvious bias.

Manitoba’s rich curling history is important to me and it should be to all Manitobans – not because it is curling but because it is Manitoba history.  

I admit I get excited every time I stumble upon a “new” curling pin from 1895, a “new” Yearbook from 1923, a “new” sweater from the 1940’s. There is no doubt in my mind these old things are an important part of curling history and of early Manitoba life. I believe it is vitally important for the young curlers of today to have an appreciation for the history of their sport – which began in the Red River settlement days and progressed to formation of the first curling organization west of Ontario in 1888.

For example, the Manitoba Curling Museum’s collection includes several curling “irons”. I think it is important for the people in our sport to know that the Granite Curling Club formed about 1880 when a group of curlers splintered from the existing Winnipeg Curling Club because they wanted to play the game with granites – not irons.

So obviously, I think it is important for not just young curlers but all Winnipeggers and all Manitobans to have the same feeling of awe and appreciation that I have for the nearly 150 year history of the Granite Curling Club when they drive by and especially when they walk into the grand old club building at 1 Granite Way in Winnipeg.

Admittedly, the building itself is ONLY 110+ years old but the club is such a central part of Manitoba’s great curling history. Soon after the club itself was created, Granite took the lead role (along with the Thistle) in forming the forerunner of the Manitoba Curling Association when five rural clubs were invited to a meeting for just that purpose. In the early 20^th century, it was a primary site for games in the annual Winnipeg bonspiel – deemed to be a sort of unofficial world championship of the time, attracting teams from as far away as Yukon, from the northern United States and occasionally even from Scotland. When Manitoba started its first Men’s Championship in 1925, it was played at the Granite. When the Brier was played outside Toronto for the first time (1940 in Winnipeg), it was a Granite team skipped by Howard Wood Sr. which represented Manitoba and won! Granite’s Ray Turnbull helped develop the first curling ‘how-to’ program, travelled the curling world teaching the sport and gets much of the credit for creating the first European World curling champions. When Manitoba won its first world championship, it was Granite’s Don Duguid team who were undefeated in 1970 and repeated, undefeated in 1971.

No question, that history will always exist whether or not the Granite CC building exists. However, it saddens me to think that the time may come, sooner than later, when the magnificent heritage which lies in the photos on the walls and the trophies in the showcases of that building will only be available in a Manitoba Curling Museum and not in the building where that history occurred.

I do not have the knowledge or wisdom to know what is right in the current debate about parking, affordable housing and the future of the club.

So yes, I am glad I am not one of the decisions makers on this.

Does the fate of the legendary club truly hang in the balance? I just don’t know how you make a decision which could add the iconic Granite building to the list of curling clubs which have disappeared in the last half century.

From the very first game that I ever played in the MCA bonspiel (in 1967 on sheet #2 at Granite against Bruce Hudson), I have played in every curling club in the city at one time or another. In addition to Granite, I have been a member of seven other clubs – four of them (Highlander, Wildewood, Transcona, Grain Exchange) all closed because their business model no longer worked.

I have played in many other clubs which no longer exist – West Kildonan, Victoria, CFB Westwin, CFB Fort Osborne, Strathcona, Civic Caledonian, Highlander, Thistle, Valour Road, Rossmere and Winter Club. All but Thistle, which burned down, closed because for various reasons, their volunteer board members believed their business model no longer worked. Winter Club and Rossmere, of course, still exist but their curling business model no longer worked. The second iteration of the Thistle, in the former Valour Road CC building, also closed because the business model no longer worked.

I do not know the Granite Curling Club’s business model particularly well. However, I do know that most curling club board members in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba face the fact daily that they are probably one major problem (like a broken down ice plant, a roof replacement or an irreversible drop in membership revenue) from having to debate the question – do we try to find the money or do we close the doors?.

At one time Winnipeg was unquestionably the “centre of the curling world”. That may no longer be the case; certainly other jurisdictions can make the argument that they now are.

That is as it may be. However, I will suggest this – if you offered any curler anywhere in the world an expenses paid trip to visit any curling club anywhere, the vast majority choice (perhaps the unanimous choice) would be Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club. It is that well known and that important around the world.

I will never argue against the importance of the proposed housing project. I just don’t envy the position that the decision makers are in – if their decision about a parking lot and a housing project truly could lead to the demise of all that history and heritage.

Once in my life I had the chance to play golf at the Old Course at St Andrews. I said at the time, if it wasn’t so special, you’d plow it up. The same might be said for the Granite Curling Club – it is just an old building, no reason not to knock it down. The simple fact is that the Granite Curling Club is special. The decisions which affect its future must be made with that specialness, with all of that history, in mind.