Morris Curling Club has a new manager. Gabriel Brandt has been on the job since early June and is excited by the opportunity to help grow the sport of curling in a facility which has gained a strong reputation both nationally and internationally.

Gabriel, a native of Blumenort in the Steinbach area, has a sport management background with a degree in Sport & Leisure Management. He calls himself a ‘semi-competitive’ curler who has played at the regional level in the Club Champions competition.

In a recent conversation, he acknowledged that sport has given him many opportunities and he is excited to be involved with similar opportunities being provided to others in the community.

“I have known about the Cargill Curling Training Centre – it has a very positive reputation and great leadership team,” Brandt said. “I look forward to working with the strong CCTC
group to continue building that program.”

He also acknowledged there is a challenge ahead in trying to rebuild the involvement of the local community in the local curling facility where membership has slipped in recent years.

“I think people are interested more than ever in having a place to connect with their community. We are going to continue to strive to be that place and provide the best
technology and training to provincial/national level teams as well as a welcoming environment to those new to the game. I think we can do some really cool things here and am very excited for the opportunity,” he said.

CurlMorris is once again offering summer ice for teams and individuals who wish to get on the ice in preparation for next season or just to spend an hour or two in a great “beat the heat” alternative.

Gabriel will be supported by summer intern Ethan Brandt (no relation) in providing a summer curling experience. Contact him at (204) 746-2271 or morristrainingcentre@gmail.com

Jordon McDonald and Zoey Terrick, Teams Manitoba in the New Holland Canadian Junior, both won their bronze medal games Sunday.

Team Terrick finished second in their pool and won their initial playoff game but lost the semi-final to fall into the bronze game. Alberta beat Newfoundland-Labrador, who had beaten Manitoba, in the gold medal game. Manitoba beat Ontario for the medal.

Team McDonald topped their pool undefeated but lost their first game of the week in the semi-final – a 7-6 extra end loss to Northern Ontario. Alberta beat NONT in the gold game while McDonald’s team defeated Ontario in the bronze match.

(Saturday, April 1, 10PM) MCDONALD TO PLAY FOR BRONZE Jordon McDonald and Team Manitoba will play for Bronze at the Canadian Juniors. Team McDonald lost 7-6 on an extra end to Northern Ontario in their playoff meeting – first loss of the week for the Manitobans. Jace Freeman’s Manitoba 2 team lost in the playoff qualifying round and finishes out of the medal chase.

Zoey Terrick will play Sunday morning in a semi-final game. Grace Beaudry missed the playoffs.

(Friday Update) THREE MANITOBA JUNIOR TEAMS WILL ADVANCE TO PLAYOFFS, THE FOURTH STILL COULD Undefeated Jordon McDonald (7W-0L), Jace Freeman with a 6W-1L record and Zoey Terrick also with a 6W-1L record are all assured of advancing to the playoff round at the New Holland Canadian Juniors. With a game yet to play, all three teams will finish in the top three of their pools, the finish required to advance.

Grace Beaudry, after two losses in the first three games, has rebounded to a 4W-2L record. With two games yet to play, the Beaudry team can still finish third in their pool and advance to the playoffs.

(Tuesday, March 28, 11:30PM) MCDONALD, FREEMAN BOTH UNDEFEATED AT CANADIAN JUNIORS Manitoba’s two teams, the teams skipped by Jordon McDonald and Jace Freeman, both have 4W-0L records at the New Holland Canadian Juniors in Quebec.

The two teams are competing in the same pool. They will face off on Wednesday evening. It will be the only game of the day for Team Freeman while Team McDonald will play a game earlier in the day.

In the Junior Women’s competition, Manitoba’s Zoey Terrick team has a 3W-1L record in their first four games while, in the other pool, Grace Beaudry’s team has a 1W-2L record going into competition Wednesday.

Kyle Kurz (Beth Peterson, Ian McMillan Melissa Gordon-Kurz) are the CurlManitoba Chicken Chef Mixed Champions.

Team Kurz defeated defending champion Corey Chambers (Fort Garry) in a final game showdown between two undefeated teams.

Kyle Kurz previously won Manitoba Junior titles in 2014 and 2015. Melissa Gordon-Kurz also won two juniors (in 2015 and 2016) and Beth Peterson won a junior title in 2015. The three also won the Manitoba Mixed in 2020 with Braden Calvert. For McMillan, it is a first Manitoba championship.

(Saturday, April 1) PLAYOFFS SET IN MANITOBA MIXED Defending champion Corey Chambers (Fort Garry) and Kyle Kurz (Fort Rouge) are the A-Side qualifiers who have earned byes to the second round of playoffs Sunday in the Chicken Chef Mixed at Assiniboine Memorial.

In the A-Qualifier games, Kurz defeated Ryan Wiebe (Gimli) while Chambers defeated Braden Calvert (Carberry). Calvert then won a B-qualifier spot with a win over Zach Wasylik (Stonewall) while Calvert won a B-qualifier spot with a win over Hayden Forrester (East St. Paul).

The C-qualifying games continued the trend as Forrester defeated Jack Hykaway (Pembina) and Wasylik defeated Steve Irwin (Brandon) to advance.

Chambers awaits the winner of a Calvert-Hykaway first round game while Kurz will play the winner of the Wiebe-Forrester match.

(CurlManitoba Release: March 31, Noon) CHAMBERS SET TO DEFEND MANITOBA MIXED TITLE Play is underway and reigning Manitoba Mixed champion Corey Chambers is defending his title in CurlManitoba’s Chicken Chef Mixed Championship March 30-April 2 at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club.  Lisa McLeod (at third) and Jolene Callum (at lead) return with Chambers to defend. They are joined by Julien Leduc, throwing second stones.

Fifteen teams from across Manitoba are competing in the championship.

The field includes three-time champion skip Sean Grassie and his Deer Lodge team. Grassie won the Manitoba title in 2009, 2012, and 2014. He won the Canadian Championship in 2009 and with Allison Nimik, went on to win Canada’s first ever World Mixed Doubles medal.

Manitoba’s 2020 Mixed champion skip, Braden Calvert (Carberry), is also competing in the 2023 championship.

Notable among multiple former Manitoba champions, across many categories, are three-time Mixed champions Kerri & Kyle Einarson. They won the championship in 2013 with Terry McNamee, 2015 with Jared Kolomaya, and in 2017 with Derek Samagalski. This year they join forces with skip Ryan Wiebe and lead Jennifer Clark-Rouire on a team out of Gimli.

Including Calvert and Wiebe, this year’s Chicken Chef Mixed Championship includes five teams from outside the Perimeter Highway.

Sam Antila has brought his team to Assiniboine Memorial from Thompson’s Burntwood Club. Steve Irwin’s Brandon team and Zach Wasylik’s Stonewall team are the other teams from outside Winnipeg.

Pembina (Jack Hykaway, Neil Okumura) and Fort Rouge (Kyle Kurz, Travis Bale) is represented by two teams. Fort Garry (Chambers), Thistle (Cory Anderson), Granite (Cyrus Brandt), Deer Lodge (Grassie), and East St. Paul (Hayden Forrester) each have one entry in the competition.

Justin Richter skips the lone entry from the host Assiniboine Memorial.

**

We send heartfelt condolences to Sean Grassie whose father Jack passed away this week. Jack was a fine curler in his own right but in recent years was more visible as an ever-present figure at Manitoba events as the coach of Sean’s teams and played a key role in the many championships won by Sean and his brother Scott.

(CurlManitoba Release) Joelle Brown-Charleswood and former champion Dave Boehmer-Petersfield have won the Pharmasave Senior Women’s and Strathcona Trust Senior Men’s curling championships in Dauphin.

Joelle Brown (Maureen Bonar, Natalie Claude, Allyson Bell, fifth Deb McCreanor) earned a berth to the final after finishing 6-1 in the round robin.  Defending champion Terry Ursel (Wanda Rainka, Nadine Ralph, Tracy Igonia, fifth Chris Hamblin and coach Lorne Hamblin) defeated Norma Purdy (Lori Pelissier, Patti Ulrich, Brenda Michel, fifth Marla Boyd) 8-1 in the morning’s semi-final.  In the final, Brown defeated Ursel 5-3.

Neufeld (Dean Moxham, Peter Nicholls, Dale Michie) finished the round robin finished the round robin at 6W-1L and defeated Dave Boehmer in the page 1-1 playoff game to advance to the final.  Dave Boehmer (Dale Lott, Sean Bracken, George Hacking, fifth Scott Szydlik) defeated Richard Muntain in the semi-final 8-6 on Monday morning.  In the final game, Boehmer stole points in the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th ends to secure their victory (final was 6-5).

The two teams will represent Manitoba at the Everest Senior Championships Dec 4-10, 2023 in Vernon, BC.

Dave Boehmer joins Lloyd Gunnlaugson and Randy Neufeld as the only skips to win four Manitoba Senior Men’s titles. For Brown, it is a first Manitoba championship.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MANITOBA/CANADA’S TEAM EINARSON!! In their third world championship (their first worlds was wiped out by the pandemic), Team Einarson has won two Bronze medals. The 2022 and 2023 bronze medals are Canada’s first world women’s medals since Jennifer Jones won gold in North Bay in 2018)

(Curling Canada Release) Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson is back-to-back bronze medal champions following a win on Sunday morning at the 2023 LGT World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by New Holland.

Canada’s Team Einarson of Gimli, Man., defeated Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg by a score of 8-5 to earn bronze at Goeransson Arena. It’s the second time in a row the teams clashed for third place at a world championship.

“I feel pretty excited to come here and medal. I know it’s not gold like we wanted, but at least it’s a medal. To win bronze two years in a row is pretty special,” skip Einarson said.

Ask any member of Team Canada – skip Einarson, vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Briane Harris, alternate Krysten Karwacki, coach Reid Carruthers and national coach Renée Sonnenberg – to describe the week and they’ll say it was an up-and-down event. Canada built momentum early in the week but couldn’t string together wins in the latter part. The team’s 7-5 round-robin record was good to qualify for the third seed in the playoffs. However, a semifinal loss to Norway kept the Canadians short of the gold-medal game and they needed a solid performance to earn bronze.

“It is very special. It was an up-and-down week, but we put ourselves in a good position yesterday and it was really hard to lose that semifinal again. But I’m super proud of how we came out today and getting up against the hometown team isn’t easy either. We have a really good support crew here with our coaching and families and everything and it definitely helped us get through that,” Sweeting said.

Sweden had the support of the hometown crowd, but it didn’t deter Canada, which jumped out to an early three-point lead. Team Einarson found its footing when Canada had to make a pinpoint draw to the side of the button to score two in the first. Sweden had a chance to score in the second end but rolled out on a hit and gave Canada another point.

Canada forced Sweden to one in the third and repeated its deuce with hammer and steal combo in the fourth and fifth ends to take a five-point lead into the fifth-end break. In the fourth end, Canada was sitting five counters, but an excellent draw from Sweden forced Canada to play a long angle raise to score two. In the fifth, Sweden attempted a runback to score but left Canada sitting one.

Team Hasselborg was far from out of it in the second half of the game and hung on until the 10th end. The teams traded deuces in the sixth and seventh ends, then Sweden scored a single with hammer in the eighth and stole a point in the ninth to get within three. Team Einarson ran Sweden out of stones to claim the win.

The bronze-medal win adds another piece of hardware to Team Einarson’s mantel. While gold was the preferred colour to bring back to Canada, the team believes this will be another building block in long-term success.

“The fact that we were able to still get the bronze with not our strongest performance this week is big for our team,” Birchard said. “It’s lit a fire under us. We want to come back and we want to challenge for the gold, obviously, we had hoped to do that this week but it wasn’t in the cards, so we’ll just look forward to next year.”

Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum President Peter Nicholls is pleased to announce that Sunrise Credit Union will be the Presenting Sponsor of the 2023 Induction Banquet when it is held at Brandon’s Victoria Inn on May 7, 2023.

“We very much appreciate the support of Sunrise Credit Union in our efforts to celebrate the five champion teams, the two curlers, and the two builders who will be honoured at our 2023 Induction Dinner,” Nicholls said. “It is our first time hosting the event in Westman since 1995 and we are pleased to have such as s strong western Manitoba institution join us in the celebrations.”

The 2023 inductees will include:
TEAM:             Martin Bailey (Heather) – 2004 Canadian Masters Champions
TEAM:              Doug Armour (Souris) – 2005 Canadian Masters Champions
TEAM:             Ray Orr (Minnedosa) – 2009 Canadian Masters Champions
TEAM:             Joyce McDougall (Brandon) – 2011 Canadian Masters Champions
TEAM:              Kelly Robertson (Neepawa) – 2011 Canadian Senior Champions (World Silver)
CURLER:         Doug Harrison
CURLER:         Ruth Wiebe
BUILDER:         Bob Flock
BUILDER:         Dave Petursson

The sponsorship by Sunrise Credit Union expands their support of curling Manitoba which began with support of CurlManitoba’s livestream broadcast program in 2022 and again in 2023.

“The history and heritage of curling in Manitoba have strong roots in rural Manitoba. We are pleased to see the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame dinner returning to Western Manitoba and Brandon for the first time in 28 years,” said Sunrise Credit Union President & CEO Tim Klassen. “We are happy to expand our sponsorship commitment to curling in Manitoba by supporting this event. We congratulate all the 2023 inductees on their achievements.”

Dinner details are being finalized with planned start times of 4:30PM (cocktails) and 5:30PM (dinner). Ticket purchases ($100 OR Table of 8 – $720) will be through the CurlManitoba office. Interested persons are invited to contact info@curlmanitoba.org to request information on exact timing and ticket purchases.