At Fort Garry, on the 6th end, Ken Ringaert had no out-turn path so he tried a long in-turn raise but scored only the one to tie. Stolen 7th & 8th ends gave him a 6-4 win over Lionel Walz.
(December 8) Three teams from Winnipeg’s Granite and individual teams from nine different clubs across Manitoba have won invitations this week to compete in the Manitoba Credit Unions Masters Men’s Curling Championship in early March at Assiniboine Memorial.
Regional playoffs were completed late Wednesday afternoon when Laurie Hogg defeated Rob Atkins with a last shot takeout, stick for one, to win the second berth available in the East/Interlake playoff.
The dozen winners this week join defending (from two years ago, pre-Covid) champion Murray Warren, berth bonspiel winners Greg McGibbon (Granite) and Gord McTavish (Pembina) in the 16-team provincial field. The one remaining berth available will be available through the Brandon Men’s Masters bonspiel in early-January.
This week’s provincial berth winners are: Sam Antila – Burntwood, Thompson Dale Brooks – Hamiota Mark Franklin – Granite, Winnipeg Carl German – East St. Paul Allan Gitzel – Morris Laurie Hogg -Stonewall Paul Kruk – Souris Bill Menzies – Granite, Winnipeg Jim Renwick – Brandon Ken Ringaert – Granite, Winnipeg Kelly Robertson – Dauphin Al Sharpe – Fort Rouge, Winnipeg
(December 14, 2021) CurlManitoba has announced plans to expand remote access to championship curling entertainment next week from the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer.
As in the past, nation-wide television coverage will be provided by Sportsnet for the semi-final at 10AM and the final at 4PM on Sunday, December 19.
In addition, plans are in place for livestreaming of at least a dozen games from the Carberry Plains Community Centre. The livestreaming, sponsored by Sunrise Credit Union and Rocky Mountain Equipment, will include a featured game on all but one of the round-robin draws plus all of the championship round draws daily Wednesday, December 15 through Saturday, December 18.
Only the 8PM draw on Wednesday evening will not be in the live-streaming program. If the scheduled Saturday evening tiebreaker game is required, it will also be livestreamed.
“Make no mistake, we very much want lots of people in the arena,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker. “Large crowds are an important part of the experience for teams going on from Manitoba championships. We think the experience of playing in front of the large, enthusiastic crowds who come to our arena championships may be worth a win or even two to a new Manitoba team going the national Scotties.”
However, Baker goes on to acknowledge that friends, fans, and family cannot always be in the arena to support their team.
“We know that the distances involved in Manitoba travel are a factor and one of the services which CurlManitoba can provide our member clubs and their members is to make it possible to follow favourite teams remotely by way of the livestreaming option,” Baker says.
All 12 teams in the competition will be featured in a livestreamed game at least once during the week. Many will be featured twice and a few more often based on the number of times they play on the sheet of ice set up with the required cameras.
The games will be available beginning at 8:30AM, Wednesday, December 15 at the CurlManitoba You Tube channel or at curlmanitoba.org.
Later this season, curling fans can also look forward to watching livestream games from the Viterra Men’s Championship in Selkirk and the Telus Juniors in Brandon.
(Updated: December 8, 9PM) Team Fleury Top Seed in Manitoba Scotties .. Tracey Fleury’s season with her East St. Paul team of Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe, and Kristin McCuish has made them the #1 seed in this year’s CurlManitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer.
TEAM FLEURY at the Canadian Curling Trials Curling Canada/ Michael Burns Photo
The honour is determined by a consensus vote of the other competitors in the event with consideration as well for the team’s CTRS ranking.
“Coming off a great week at the Canadian Curling Trials, and being ranked number one on both the Canadian (CTRS) and World Curling Federation team rankings, obviously Team Fleury was going to be seeded number by the other teams,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker. “With both Team Canada Kerri Einarson and Olympic Team Jennifer Jones absent from the event, the suspense was always going to be around who would be the rest of the top five seeds.”
The rest of the Scotties top five seeds are: #2 SEED: Mackenzie Zacharias (Altona), Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias, Lauren Lenentine, Coach Sheldon Zacharias: Currently CTRS #10 & WCF #20 #3 SEED: Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), Jenna Loder, Katherine Doerksen, Melissa Gordon: Currently CTRS #24 and WCF #28 #4 SEED: #4 Seed: Kristy Watling (Assiniboine Memorial team (Hailey Ryan, Emilie Rafnson, Sarah Pyke, Coach Jim Watling): Currently CTRS #17 and WCF #45 #5 SEED: Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial), Laura Burtnyk, Gaetanne Gauthier, Krysten Karwacki: Currently CTRS #34 and WCF #42 #6: SEED: Kaitlyn Jones (Assiniboine Memorial), Robyn Kjegovan, Abby Ackland, Sara Oliver, Coach Howard Restall: Currently CTRS #26 and WCF #48
The Manitoba Women’s Championship will be played at the Carberry Plains Community Centre in Carberry, December 14-19.
“We look forward to hosting Manitoba’s best women curlers,” says Host Committee Chair Rob Van Kommer. “Carberry was one of the clubs which met in December of 1888 to form the original curling association in this province. Now 133 years later, we are proud to be added to the list of communities which have hosted CurlManitoba’s arena championship events.”
Van Kommer adds “our community is excited by this opportunity and our volunteers are ready and able to create a very memorable event for both the curlers and their fans.”
“On behalf of Kruger Products and our parent company Kruger Inc., I’d like to extend a warm welcome to kick off the 2022 Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry, says Rynie Nachtigall, Business Development Manager, Western Canada, Kruger Products. “We’ve been proudly sponsoring Women’s curling for over 40 years and thank CurlManitoba, the entire Host Committee/volunteers and all the Curlers who will make this another successful event.”
The 12-team championship will be played in a round-robin in two pools of six with three teams from each pool will carry their records forward and play the three teams from the other pool. After the eight games, three teams will advance to the playoffs with #2 playing #3 and the winner meeting #1 in the final,
Continuing the tradition of broadcast, the semi-final at 10:00am and the final at 4:00pm will be available nation-wide on Sportsnet.
CurlManitoba has also recently announced that remote access to Scotties games has also been expanded by the addition of a comprehensive live-streaming plan. One game from each draw, except the evening draws, will be available at the CurlManitoba You Tube channel and at curlmanitoba.org.
(November 22)NEEPAWA’S URSEL TEAM WINS WESTMAN SCOTTIES BERTH .. Neepawa’s Terry Ursel team picked up the fourth Scotties berth available on the weekend, joining Kaitlyn Jones, Kritsy McDonald, and Jennifer Clark-Rouire’s team in winning invitations to compete in Carberry in mid-December.
Ursel (with Wanda Rainka, Kaya Hunter, Tracy Igonia, and fifth Chris Hamblin) won two out of three in Rivers against Alyssa Calvert, who is hoping to be a home team in the Carberry event.
Had it been a ‘total-points’ series, they would have needed an extra end as the two teams each scored 21 points in the three games. Calvert won game #2 9-6 while Ursel was a 7-5 and 8-7 winner. The teams were so closely matched that they were tied coming home in Game #3.
Team Calvert still has a chance to qualify as they will play Shae Bevan’s team for the fifth regional berth at a date & location yet to be determined. The 12th invitation for the Carberry championship will be awarded after the Morris bonspiel in early December.
(UPDATED 8PM: Saturday, Nov. 20) TEAM JCR JOINS JONES, MCDONALD IN EARNING SCOTTIES BERTHS … Kaitlyn and Jones are two well known Manitoba curling names – but two different people playing this week in Saskatoon. Kaitlyn Jones is a pretty well known name as well: a former Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia Junior champion AND Canadian & World junior champion.
Team Kaitlyn Jones
Now Kaitlyn Jones is set to make her mark at the Scotties level and she has made the first step by skipping her team (Robyn Njegovan, Abby Ackland, Sara Oliver) to an invitation to compete in Carberry at the Manitoba championship in mid-December.
Trailing 4-1 playing the fourth end, Jones had a draw for a three and a 4-4 tie. The momentum of the game shifted and after a series of singles, Jones had a hit for three on the eighth end. She rolled away but scored a pair to go up 7-6.
The Jones team controlled the final end, got two buried in the four foot and the game ended when Lisa McLeod (skipping the Jennifer Clark-Rouire entry) couldn’t make an in-off attempt to score at least one for tie. The final score was 9-6.
Team Kristy McDonald
A very well known Manitoba curling name, Kristy McDonald, will join the Jones team in Carberry. Returning to competition after some family time away, McDonald (Lisa Blixhavn, Lindsay Titheridge, Raunora Westcott) adds another former Manitoba Scotties champion skip to the Carberry roster.
McDonald led Shae Bevan 3-0 after two ends but gave up a three on the third when she missed a double kill attempt and left Bevan a draw for the three. McDonald led 5-4 after five ends and had a draw for a four on end #6 to go up 9-4. The final score was 10-5.
On the 5PM draw, the third Winnipeg regional entry into the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry went to the Jennifer Clark-Rouire foursome, skipped by Lisa McLeod (with JCR, Kelsey Meger, Laurie Macdonell, Jolene Callum)
Team JCR, led by two but faced four with their final stone on the last end. Mcleod was certain of a tie after her throw but it was even better than that as Shae Bevan and her team scored only a single; a 4-3 victory for McLeod and her team.
In Rivers, Terry Ursel won game one of the best-of-three series 7-5 but Alyssa Calvert rebounded to win 9-6 in the second game. A third, deciding game will be played in Rivers at 10AM Sunday.
At a time yet to be determined, Shae Beavan’s foursome will play the loser in Rivers for the fifth berth available through regionals.
(November 19)FIVE SCOTTIES BERTHS AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEND … It is fair to suggest Tracey Fleury and Jennifer Jones and their teams would prefer a trip to Beijing over a trip to Carberry.
The top two favourites to win this year’s Manitoba’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer will be playing in Saskatoon, beginning this weekend, in an attempt to win their way out of that trip to Carberry in mid-December.
If either wins Canada’s Olympic Curling Trials, formally knows the Canadian Curling Trials, they would be dropped out of the Manitoba championship as they would be unable to represent Manitoba at the National Scotties which ends just a few days ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
Four other teams have also qualified for the Manitoba championship. These include Mackenzie Zacharias, Darcy Robertson, Beth Peterson, and Kristy Watling.
That leaves five invitations to play in Carberry up for grabs this weekend in regional qualifying – and six teams want them.
In Winnipeg at the Deer Lodge, Jennifer Clark-Rouire, Shae Bevan, Kaitlyn Jones, and Kristy McDonald will play for three provincial berths. Jones play Clark-Rouire and McDonald plays Bevan at 9AM Saturday with the winners getting invitations. Then the two losers will play for the third invitation.
In Westman, Alyssa Calvert hopes to become a home-team in Carberry when she plays a best of three series with Terry Ursel (Neepawa). That happens in Rivers beginning at 10AM Saturday.
That makes four. The losers in Winnipeg and Westman will playoff for the fifth available entry into the Carberry championship.
After this weekend, the last entry into the Carberry Scotties will be announced following the DEKALB Bonspiel in Morris.
Of course, the small number of entries in regional playoffs does not indicate the strength of field of the provincial championships. In fact, the exact opposite – the strength of the Manitoba Scotties field probably explains the lack of regional entries.
There are seven Manitoba teams in the Canadian Team Ranking Systems’ Top 20. Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson, #5, is not eligible as she has pre-qualified for the national Scotties (unless she wins the Trials). Kaitlyn Jones, a former Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia Junior champion and also Canadian and World titleist, is ranked #15 in Canada but has yet to qualify for Carberry.
The other five are pre-qualified: Tracey Fleury (CTRS #1), Jennifer Jones (CTRS #2), Mackenzie Zacharias (CTRS #12), Kristy Watling (CTRS #14), and Beth Peterson (CTRS #15). Also pre-qualified, Darcy Robertson is ranked #35 on the CTRS list.
No question, the 12-team Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry in mid-December will be one of the most competitive women’s curling events ever staged in Manitoba – great championship curling entertainment.
(November 16) GREAT PROGRESS IN PLANNING FOR CARBERRY SCOTTIES …. Carberry is one of the smallest, and perhaps is the smallest, community to ever host one of CurlManitoba’s arena championship curling events.
Curl Carberry is proud to be hosting the 2021 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer
Rather than being a problem, however, committee chairman Rob Van Kommer says it is an opportunity – an opportunity to showcase the spirit of the community which he is proud to call home and an opportunity to boost community pride.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer will be played in the Carberry Community Centre December 14-19, 2021 with the full support of the Town of Carberry, the Rural Municipality of North Cypress, the Community Centre and the Curling Club.
“Our committee and our community have really taken hold of the challenge of hosting the Scotties. We’re making great progress,” Van Kommer said recently. “The business community has shown great support – our nine corporate boxes are ‘sold out’ and we have at least eight gold sponsors already; we had over 120 volunteers turn out for our shirt try-on night, and nearly half of our full event passes have been sold.”
Showing the eternal optimism of the Manitoba farmer, Van Kommer can even put a positive spin on the past year’s covid-isolation and the change of timing to December, due to the 2022 Olympic schedule.
‘I don’t think there is any doubt it helps us for the event to be earlier than usual,” he said. “People were isolating for so long that this event is going to be a great way for them to get out and see their friends from across the Manitoba curling community.”
The Carberry Community Centre is a multi-sport facility which includes the four sheet curling facility, a bowling alley, a gun club, an outdoor pool, and hockey arena. For the Scotties, the curling rink will be used as a yet-to-be named hospitality facility.
People worried about it being an ’old barn’ need not be concerned. The building benefited from regular upgrades over the years with new roof, new dressing rooms and new heaters all ensuring the comfort of both fans and curlers. There is also good experience in the arena as a curling arena as Carberry Curling club has staged its annual bonspiel in the arena ever since the clubs 100th anniversary (nearly 40 years).
While seating capacity in the arena is limited to 450 bleacher seats, the total capacity will be about 1,200 curlers and curling fans. (LINK to Carberry’s Ticket Sales site) One of the innovative Carberry ideas, compared with other provincial events, will be to provide access to the hospitality area via a $20 “party pass”.
That idea was one of many which grew from the imaginations of the Carberry volunteer corps and Van Kommer is quick to credit his executive committee and the other lead volunteers for their energy and ideas. The Executive group includes Kelly Hofer (President of the Ladies Curling Club), Warren Birch (President of the Men’s Curling Club) Trevor Calvert (Past-President of the Men’s Curling Club).
Carberry was originally scheduled to host a dual Manitoba Juniors and Manitoba Seniors Championship event in early 2021 but it, of course, was cancelled due to the pandemic. When CurlManitoba needed a suitable location for the Scotties, Carberry accepted the challenge.
As one of the original seven curling clubs which formed the Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (now CurlManitoba), Carberry is proud to join the list of communities which has hosted one of Manitoba’s major arena curling events.
However, Van Kommer and his group have not given up on the idea of that dual Juniors-Seniors championship event wrapped around their community bonspiel.
“You have to have something to look forward to,” he concludes with a smile.
Sherry Anderson (SK) and Mary Anne Arsenault (BC) with 8W-2L records tied atop the standings going forward to the women’s playoff round at the Everest Canadian Seniors in Ottawa. Nova Scotia’s Theresa Breen, with a last round win over Manitoba’s Kim Link, finished with a7W-3L record, also in the playoffs.
Link and her East St. Paul team finish at 6W-4L record as a result of the last round loss. They finished tied with Cheryl Bernard (AB) but Bernard has been awarded the fourth playoff spot based upon a round-robin loss by Link to Bernard.
In the men’s event, Randy Neufeld’s La Salle finished with a victory and an overall 5-4 record in the ‘seeding pool’ featuring the six teams which did not advance to the championship round.
TEAM LINK Photo: Curling Canada/Roy Iachetta
(9AM: December 10) TEAM LINK STILL IN CONTENTION AT CANADIAN SENIOR WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP ..Thursday was a day of missed opportunity for Manitoba’s Team Link at the Everest Canadian Seniors. The bad news was that they split their two games, going into the final day of play with a 5W-3L record and two games to play.
The good news was that Team Link do not lose ground to the leaders.
It will be and exciting final day for fans in Ottawa as seven teams have with 6W-2L OR 5W-3L records. Sherry Anderson (SK), Sherry Middaugh (ON), Mary Anne Arsenault (BC) and Theresa Breen (NS) share the lead at (6W-2L). Link, Chery Bernard (AB) and Isabelle Neron (PQ) are all at 5W-3L.
At 3W-5L, Yukon’s Rhonda Horte is the only team which cannot still win the championship.
For those seven leading teams, all play two games today and all are MUST WINs. Manitoba plays Ontario at 1pm and Nova Scotia at 6pm.
In the Men’s Division, Randy Neufeld’s foursome had a good Thursday – winning two games. At 4W-4L, they moved into a tie at the top of the seeding pool. (A Friday morning win over Nunavut has improved their record to 5W-4L)
(December 9)TEAM LINK ADVANCES TO CANADIAN SENIOR WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND … Kim Link and her East St. Paul team have lost a pair of games on the final day of round robin play but their 4W-2L record has them in contention as they advance to the championship round.
Quebec’s Isabelle Neron sits atop the pool with a 5W-1L record. Team Link shares second place in the pool with BC’s Mary Anne Arsenault and Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson – all at 4W-2L.
The four teams will now play the top four from the other pool with their total 10 game record determining payoff positions. The good news for Team Link and the other 4W-2L teams is that they are only a game behind the leaders. There were no undefeated teams in Pool B.
Sherry Middaugh (Ontario) and Theresa Breen (Nova Scotia) are both at 5W-1L. Alberta’s Cheryl Bernard is at 4W-2L while Rhonda Horte (Yukon) has a 3W-3L record.
TEAM NEUFELD Photo: Curling Canada/Roy Iachetta
The Manitobans play Alberta and Yukon on Thursday. Two wins would be an important step to the playoffs as they must play the two teams from the other pool, Ontario and Nova Scotia, on the final day.
Meanwhile, Randy Neufeld and his La Salle team will miss the championship round. With a pair of losses today, their 2W-4L record means they drop in the ‘ranking round’ for their last three games.
(December 7)LINK STILL LEADS CANADIAN SENIORS WITH 4W-OL RECORD .. Kim Link and Randy Neufeld and their Manitoba teams begin the final day of round-robin play with identical schedules but in much different places in their pool standings.
Link’s East St. Paul team has a perfect 4W-0L record while Neufeld’s La Salle foursome is at 2W-2L. Both will play later Wednesday, with games at 3PM and 7PM to complete their first round.
The women will play Quebec (currently 3W-1L) and Saskatchewan (currently 2W-2L) while the men take on Newfoundland-Labrador (2W-2L) and Saskatchewan (3W-1L).
The top four in each group advance tot he next round of championship play.
(December 7)LINK LEADS CANADIAN SENIORS WITH 3W-OL RECORD .. The Everest Canadian Seniors is underway in Ottawa with Manitoba represented by Kim Link (East St. Paul) and Randy Neufeld (La Salle).
With a comeback win Tuesday over BC’s Mary Anne Arsenault, Team Link has moved to the top of their seven team pool with a 3W-0L record. The Manitobans scored three on the 7th end and stole the home end for a 6-5 win over BC. Arsenault, Sherry Anderson (SK) and Quebec’s Isabelle Neron are all at 2W-1L.
Meanwhile Neufeld has had a tough start with one win in the team’s first three games. The losses have come at the hands of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick while the victory was over Northwest Territories.
The top four in each pool advance to the Championship Pool for games against teams from the other pool, while the remaining teams go to the Seeding Pool. At the conclusion of the Championship Pool on Friday, Dec. 10, the semifinals will be held Saturday, Dec. 11, at 10:30 a.m., pairing 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. The winners then advance to their respective gold-medal final while the losers will play for bronze. The medal games are set for 3:30 p.m.
Some people are ‘just memorable’. Sometimes they are famous athletes or entertainers – celebrities for some reason or other and you remember .
And sometimes they are “just folks” – but memorable none the less. One such couple is Bill and Terry Howie. I don’t think there is a person who has ever met them who would not call them memorable OR who would not say, their world was a better place because they met Bill and Terry.
Terry & Bill Howie, with Chris & Lorne Hamblin DEKALB SuperSpiel Co-CHairs
The DEKALB SuperSpiel honoured Bill and Terry Howie Monday evening at their volunteer’s windup at the end of the 14th annual bonspiel. At the age of 93 & 91 respectively, this magnificent couple had made the difficult move away from Morris and into assisted living in Niverville. To all their friends, I can report that the move has been very good for them. They are stress free and completely happy in their new surroundings.
But Bill admits he misses the Morris Curling Club, and the other community functions, where he was famous for his 50-50 selling efforts.
“All right, you lucky people, I’m here to sell you your 50-50 ticket,” he’d call as he entered the room and he made you feel like you were doing him a personal favour by buying his tickets.
It is impossible to estimate accurately how much money he raised for community projects $2 and $5 at a time (or half that as half of it went back to the winners).In almost 50 years, it is a fair guess that it is well over $100,000 and could more likely approach a quarter of a million.
And as much as he made buyers feel like it was their privilege to buy those darn tickets from him, he made those of us who had the privilege of working on his committees feel like it was a privilege to be there and we wanted to ‘sell, sell, sell’ just to deserve to be there.
He started his community work in Morris when he moved there in 1974 and whether it was the Curling Club, the Stampede, the Lions Club, the Legion or one of many other community projects – he was always first in line to help as a business leader in his early years in Morris and as a volunteer right from the start.
Bill was the one front and centre but Terry was a key part of the team. Almost as out-going as Bill, it was often her role to take a bit of a back seat to keep Bill focused and in the later years to keep him from over-doing too much in his enthusiasm.
Communities are built on the backs of people like these!!!
The DEKALB SuperSpiel functions with the time and energy of over 100 volunteers every year working on about 20 different committees. Each year, one or two volunteer committee chair reach the end of their run and they are acknowledged publicly at the volunteer windup.
Their names go on a plaque which hangs permanently in the Morris Curling Club. This year’s additions to the plaque, the 37th and 38th names on it, with the deep appreciation of not just the Morris Curling Club but the entire Morris community, included Bill & Terry Howie. It was great to have them both in the room to hear the applause of the their friends and admirers.
(9:30PM: December 6) Jason Gunnlaugson and his Manitoba team have won the men’s division of the 14th annual DEKALB SuperSpiel. The Manitobans defeated Karsten Sturmay and his Alberta team 5-3 in the Monday evening final to earn the $11,000 champions’ cheque.
(l-r) Jack Maendel (Men’s Presenting Sponsor – EcoPoxy), Connor Njegovan, Matt Wozniak, Jason Gunnlaugson, Doug Wahl (Title Sponsor DEKALB/Bayer)
Team Gunnlaugson, which calls the Morris Curling Club and its Cargill Curling Training Centre their home club, curled for most of the weekend with three players. Adam Casey, the usual third was absent and Alex Forrest subbed in on the weekend but the three day Monday playoff run was accomplished with just three – Gunnlaugson, Matt Wozniak and Connor Njegovan.
The sixth end was the key to the game. Team Sturmay was trailing 3-2 but lying four when Gunnlaugson went to the hack to throw his final stone. Gunnlaugson’s draw around a pair of guards and a Sturmay rock in the front four foot was prefect, biting the button fully buried. Sturmay’s only option was to attempt to come around the centre line side of the guards and tap his own stone onto the new Gunnlaugson counter. He curled up, but not quite enough, and rubbed the stone across the top of the counter. A steal of one instead of a possibly game-ending score of five.
The Gunnlaugson team’s hitting ability kept things clean from there out although Sturmay did score one on the seventh end when he stayed in the rings on an attempted cross house double kill.
It was a first DEKALB victory for Gunnlaugson and Njegovan but a fourth for Wozniak who won twice with Mike McEwen and once with Matt Dunstone.
(6PM: December 6)TEAM HOLLAND WINS WOMEN’S DEKALB SUPERSPIEL ….Amber Holland’s Kronau, SK team has won the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris with a 6-4 victory over Kayla McMillan (BC).
(r-l) Doug Wahl (Title Sponsor DEKALB/Bayer) & Leon Friesen (Women’s Presenting Sponsor Meridian Industries) with Team Holland: Amber Holland, Kim Schneider, Karlee Korchinski, Deb Lozinski, Coach Travis Brown
Holland led McMillan 3-1 after three ends but gave up two singles, including a steal of one when she missed on a difficult double kill attempt on the fifth end.
It was the sixth end which determined the final result. McMillan had a counter buried biting the top of the four foot but Holland cleared two guards with her first stone. A McMillan guard attempt was left long and Holland was able to navigate past the guard to tap out the McMillan stone and count a pair to lead 5-3.
A steal in end seven gave the team from Saskatchewan a 6-3 lead coming home. McMillan had a very difficult shot for a possible tie but wrecked on a guard leaving Team Holland in possession of the $7,500 winner’s cheque.
Amber Holland
The men’s semi-finals, played at the same time, were won by Karsten Sturmay (Alberta) and Jason Gunnlaugson (Manitoba). They’ll meet in the men’s final at 7PM.
(3PM December 6)MCMILLAN-HOLLAND FINAL IN WOMEN’S DEKALB SUPERSPIEL … Kayla McMillan and her BC team will play former Canadian champion Amber Holland and her team from Kronau, SK in the DEKALB SuperSpiel final with a $7,500 payday on the line.
McMillan defeated Chelsea Carey (SK) in the noon draw semi-final. Up two coming home, with her first stone, McMillan faced a pair of Chelsea counters on the centre line in the rings, behind a centre guard about half-way to the hogline. McMillan ran the guard through, killing both and rolling wide open. Carey put her last rock in the rings but McMillan had the wide open last shot hit for victory.
Holland defeated Rachel Workin (Fargo, ND) in the other semi-final.
Team Schnider
In the men’s semi-finals, Tanner Horgan (Ontario) defeated the Colton Lott skipped Manitoba team which Horgan skipped two years ago when they won the DEKALB SuperSpiel together. Team Horgan will play local favourite Jason Gunnlaugson after the Morris team beat Luc Violette (USA) in their quarter-final. In the other men’s semi-final, Karsten Sturmay (Alberta) will play Andrin Schnider (Switzerland).
Schnider defeated Kody Hartung (SK) while Sturmay beat Daniel Casper (USA) in the quarterfinals.
(3PM: December 6)MANITOBANS OUT OF WOMEN’S DEKALB SUPERSPIEL … Manitoba teams skipped by Darcy Robertson and Beth Peterson advanced to the DEKALB SuperSpiel playoffs but both lost their quarterfinal games Monday morning.
Team Robertson lost to Kayla MacMillan (BC) while Peterson lost to Rachel Workin (Fargo, ND). Workin is the last ‘international’ in the bonspiel as Irene Schori (Switzerland) lost to Amber Holland (Sask). Former Manitoba champion Chelsea Carey (also Sask) also advanced, with a win over Hollie Duncan (Ontario).
Of the semi-finalists, only Carey is a former DEKALB SuperSpiel champion. She won the bonspiel in 2011.
2011 DEKALB Champion has reached the 2021 sei-finals
The DEKALB Men’s quarter-finals, at noon Monday, feature Jason Gunnlaugson (Manitoba) vs Luc Violette (USA); Colton Lott (Manitoba) vs Tanner Horgan (Ontario); Kody Hartung (Saskatchewan) vs Andrin Schnider (Switzerland); and Daniel Casper (USA) vs Karsten Sturmay (Alberta).
(December 5) FINAL QUALIFIERS AT MORRIS DEKALB ‘SPIEL FROM LATE DRAW SUNDAY … final four Men’s playoff qualifiers and two Women’s playoff qualifiers will be determined on the late draw Sunday in Morris.
Team Schori
Earlier Sunday, former Manitoba champion Chelsea Carey (Saskatchewan), Rachel Workin (Fargo, ND), and Winnipegger Beth Peterson qualified for the playoffs through the “B” Event and Irene Schori (Switzerland) qualified through the “C” Event.
The two remaining “C” qualifiers will come from the 9POM draw when Darcy Robertson takes on Meghan Walter and Mackenzie Zacharias plays Hollis Duncan (Ontario).
In the Men’s event, Luc Violette (Minnesota) and Karsten Strumay (Alberta) qualified from the “B” event earlier today, as did Tanner Horgan (Ontario) form the “C”.
The final three Men’s qualifier5s will be the winners of the 9PM games: Daniel Casper (Minnesota)) vs Tyler Tardi (BC), Jordon McDonald vs Andrin Schnider (Switzerland) and Jacques Gauthier vs Jason Gunnlaugson.
(dECEMBER 5) LOTT BROTHERS ADVANCE TO DEKALB PLAYOFFS … The team formerly skipped by Pat Simmons (Tanner & Colton Lott, Kyle Doering, Emerson Klimpke) has qualified for the playoff round at the DEKALB SuperSpiel. The team, with Tanner Lott skipping and throwing third stones while Colton throws fourth stones, bested Karsten Sturmay`s Alberta team, 7-4 on the 6PM draw Saturday to advance to the Monday playoff round.
The Lott Brothers and Doering are defending champions, having won the DEKALB SuperSpiel in 2019 with Tanner Horgan.
In the women`s draw, the first two qualifiers also came from the 6PM draw. Amber Holland and her Saskatchewan team were 7-1 winners over Meghan Walter`s Manitobans. Kayla MacMillan, from Vancouver, got the better of the Swiss team skipped by Irene Schori. The Swiss scored three on the seventh to tie the game but MacMillan scored coming home to win.
(6PM: December 4)Q-GAMES BEGIN AT DEKALB SUPERSPIEL!!! …. The first of the four “A” side qualifying games was on the ice at the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris during the 3PM draw. Tanner Horgan and his Ontario team, fresh from the important experience of the Canadian Olympic Trials, was matched against Kody Hartung (Saskatchewan). A close game, tied 5-5 coming home, and Hartung, as the winner is the first team to advance to the playoff round of the men’s event.
The Men’s DEKALB SuperSpiel will pay an $11,000 first prize and $36,000 in prize money, including $5,000 paid out at $100/win.
The Pat Simmons entry (skipped by Tanner Lott) will play Karsten Sturmay (Alberta) in the other “A” Qualifier. That game is set for 6PM Saturday.
In the Women’s DEKALB SuerSpiel, two “A” Qualifiers will go on the ice at 6PM.Irene Schori (Switzerland) will play Kayla MacMillan (BC) and Amber Holland (Saskatchewan) will play the young Manitoba team skipped by Meghan Walter.
(See below: Two more pairs of day passes are available for Sunday or Monday at the DEKAALB SuperSpiel)
(December 2) WIN A PAIR OF DAY-PASSES FOR THE DEKALB SUPERSPIEL!!! … Compliments of the Morris Host Committee, thecurler.com is pleased to give-away FIVE pairs of day-passes to watch the curling at what has become Manitoba’s premier competitive bonspiel event the DEKALB SuperSpiel.
The rules are simple. There is only one – no individual will be awarded more than one pair of tickets. Well, I guess there are two – you must be double vaxxed to be eligible. I won’t be checking but the folks at the curling club surely will!
The entry process is really simple. All you have to do is send me an email to ……thecurlerdotcom@gmail.com . The first five received will be awarded the tickets.
The ticket delivery process is equally simple. You will get an email confirmation that you ‘won’. I’ll advise the host committee of your name – and you can pick up the tickets at the door of the Morris Curling Club, on any of the four days of the DEKALB SuperSpiel.
** See the earlier post below for details on the great international competition you’ll be watching when you win! An electronic version of the program is included.
DEKALB SUPERSPIEL DRAW SET
International curling returns to Manitoba next weekend when the Morris World/Manitoba Curling Tour event, the DEKALB SuperSpiel, takes over the curling club. “The DEKALB” has become Manitoba’s premier competitive curling event.
There will be 16 women’s teams, including Irene Schori from Switzerland; Rachel Workin from Fego, ND, and Madison Bear from Wisconsin. On the Men’s side, 24 teams include Andrin Schnider from Switzerland, Luc Violette, Jed Brundidge and Danny Clasper from Chaska, MN and Scott Dunham from Philadelphia PA.
In the men’s event, Jason Gunnlaugson heads the list of Canadian teams which includes 15 Manitoba entries and one each from Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. There are Manitoba Curling Tour ‘points’ berths to be assigned after the DEKALB so lots of incentive for the Manitoba teams to be at their best.
In the women’s event, challenging the internationals are no fewer that eight of the teams who will compete in Carberry in the Manitoba Scotties in mid-December. Every one of them realizes the chance of winning the Scotties improved today with Jennifer Jones winning the Olympic Trials as the multiple former champion team will be replaced in the draw. Playing well in the DEKALB will set the tone for a big week in Carberry.
As an added feature, the host committee has announced there will be live streaming of 9 round robin games of the DEKALB SuperSpiel — plus all 4 playoff draws on Monday. On Championship Monday, December 6, –the women will play 9 A.M. , noon and 3:30. The men will play at noon, 3:30 and 7 P.M.
To review the DEKALB SUPERSPIEL Program, clink on the front page below.
thecurler.com has not, so far, provided much coverage of the growing sport of 2-person stick curling. To a great extent, this is a recreational activity which has attracted 100’s of curlers in clubs across the province. At my own Fort Rouge Curling Club, there are two full draws Friday afternoons with 40+ curlers. A pure number would be 48 curlers but there a few who take part in both draws.
Warren Stick ‘Spiel Champs Ross MacMIllan (l) and Jim Rouse
However, it is also an increasingly competitive sport, as I learned this weekend when I took part in a bonspiel in Warren with my longtime 4’s skip, Norm Magnusson, who has played a few stick spiels with me and is my playing partner in one of the Fort Rouge leagues.
A quick recap of rules for the un-initiated. The game is played in an hour: 2 players, six rocks, six ends. As a matter of safety, sweeping is allowed only from the hogline in – keeping a somewhat older group of curlers from rushing down the ice to sweep,
The Warren ‘Spiel was very well organized and offered the warm hospitality that rural curling clubs are famous for. Icemaker Pat Kilcullen’s ice was keen, had a good swing to it, and had a great surface, great underfoot.
The 24-team bonspiel was played in four pools of six teams, a five game round-robin. Eight teams advanced to a championship round.
Warren’s Jim Rouse and Ross MacMillan won the bonspiel championship with a 3-2 win over the Magnusson-Coutts team. We had won seven games in a row but couldn’t score enough points to beat Rouse-MacMIllan who blanked the 5th end to hold hammer coming home.
A privilege as well for us to play against one of the veterans of the stick game in the Warren area – Alvin MacMillan. We beat him and his daughter Bev Schick in the semi-final but it wasn’t easy.
Manitoba’s Jones team is competing in the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris this weekend – no, not that Jones – the other Jones, the new Jones, the Jones of the future in Manitoba curling!
A win Saturday over Team JCR in Morris followed losses to Kristy Watling and Talyia Tober. That sets up a Sunday 3PM game against a highly regard young team from the USA skipped by Madison Bear.
When Kaitlyn Jones name popped up on the Abby Ackland team roster at the start of this season, there were some obvious questions.
Was she joining the team on one of those ‘birthright’ eligibilities? “No, I moved here. But I could have,” she says, explaining that she was born in Thompson and lived in Wabowden until she was about two years old.
Did she move here to join the team or did she join the team after she moved here? She explains she moved to Manitoba for non-curling reasons but knew Sara Oliver from the 2017 Canadian Juniors and Sara reached out to her, saying the team was looking for a skip.
Sweepers Sara Oliver (l) and Abby Ackland prepare to sweep a Kaitlyn Jones delivery during regional Scotties playoffs at Deer Lodge
And that answered the third question – who initiated Abby Ackland’s move to second on the team? “This was Abby’s team but she really didn’t want to skip anymore and they were looking for a leader who had ‘been there’,” Jones explained. “There have been no negatives at all in the transition.”
No question, Kaitlyn Jones has ‘been there’. She is a Saskatchewan Junior champion who moved to Nova Scotia, took over a provincial junior champion team, and won another junior title along with a Canadian and a World Championship.
Despite their youth, the entire team has credentials to match. Lead Sara Oliver has a World Championship medal of her own, at the World Mixed with Colin Kurz. Oliver, second Abby Ackland and third Robin Negovyn have all competed nationally twice as Manitoba junior champions – once, the three of them were together at the nationals.
The DEKALB SuperSpiel will be a tune-up event for eight of the 12 teams scheduled to compete in Carberry in the Manitoba Scotties in two weeks. Team K. Jones opens the DEKALB against one of them, Kristy Watling.
Looking forward to her first provincial Scotties, Jones simply said “I can’t wait – I’m so excited”.
“I’m excited to play all those teams. I’m not intimidated, there’s really no pressure. I just try to play the best I can every game,” she said, repeating an old but true maxim “to be the best, you have to beat the best” and then added “and this is the best province for that.”
In fairness to Kaitlyn Jones, it should be explained that this conversation took place before Jennifer Jones disqualified herself from the Manitoba Scotties by winning that Trials bonspiel in Saskatoon.
However the Manitoba Scotties field still includes Tracey Fleury, former champion Kristy McDonald out of competitive retirement and excited by the opportunity of one more Scotties, another former champion in Darcy Robertson, World Junior Champion Mackenzie Zacharias, plus a host of young teams on the verge of a break-through, including Beth Peterson, Kristy Watling, Shae Bevan and Meghan Walter.
There was another obvious question that demanded an answer. With the names Kaitlyn AND Jones being the names of two of the best to ever play the game (in or outside Manitoba) and with Colleen Jones being an equally legendary name in Nova Scotia where she came to Manitoba from, do the names put extra pressure on her as a young skip.
The answer belies her years. “There have been some great curlers named Jones. I’d like to be the next one,” she says simply!
She also acknowledges the important help they have had from Coach Howard Restall. “He knows the game and he knows the women’s game. With that experience he sees things I didn’t see and I really like his coaching style which is very much a ‘did you see’ style as opposed to a ‘you should have’ style,” the young skip says.
Excited about the month ahead, Kaitlyn Jones says “I know we can compete at a high level. All we have to do is play like we can.”
The magnificent trophy will not be in Lorette today. It is on permanent display in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame/Museum
A curling match will take place today (Saturday, December 4, 2021) in Lorette, MB with eight Lorette curlers hosting eight from Winnipeg’s Fort Rouge Curling Club. In some ways it will be inconsequential – in other ways the most important curling games played in Manitoba today.
It is “Game # 1586” in CurlManitoba’s O’Grady Cup Challenge – one of the grand traditions in Manitoba curling.
Going back to 1908, In 1908 Colonel J.W. deCourcy O’Grady, who was President of the Manitoba Curling Association, presented the trophy to encourage good will and promote curling matches between affiliated clubs in the Association, which at that time included clubs from North Western Ontario and parts of Saskatchewan.
Since 1908, the tradition of two teams representing the ‘club holding of the Cup’ and two representing ‘the challenger club’ began and it has continued since that time. One of the longest delays between games in the series was the one which ended last Saturday at St. Vital.
Fort Rouge had hosted Morden on Sunday, March 15, 2020 (the day before the province shut-down due to Covid-19). Consequently, Fort Rouge ‘held the Cup’ for a period of one year, eight months, and two weeks before facing the challenge offered by St. Vital Curling Club.
Having won the challenge last week, Fort Rouge travels today to Lorette looking forward to eight ends of curling, an opportunity to play in a club they don’t usually play in, anticipated warm hospitality, and establishment of new curling relationships – perhaps friendships. Note that I make no reference to the competition.
It is an idea that seems foreign in this modern world that the competition is inconsequential compared with those other things. Of course, the numbers have to go on the scoreboard in order to determine the two-game (four ends each – the two teams both play four ends against each other) total point ‘winner’.
However, there is no personal glory of the winning players. In the old tradition, it is all about which CLUB ‘wins’ and accepts the responsibility of carrying on the tradition next week when eight curlers from either Lorette OR Fort Rouge to face the challenge of the next club on the list.
**
I have had great opportunities in the sport of curling but one thing I had never done was participate in the O’Grady Cup Challenge – until last week when I joined the Fort Rouge group at St. Vital. It just seemed important to be a part of continuing an event which has gone on for over a century.
I had probably only met half of our team and a couple of the St. Vital team before and we were an eclectic group – an opportunity I thought to explore the reason others wanted to play that day.
For the ‘party line’ I started with Keith Johnston (Fort Rouge) and Ken Stevens (St. Vital). Both are pretty good club-level curlers, both have played in the O’Grady Cup Challenge several times, both are past-presidents of their club, both are members of the Board of Directors of CurlManitoba. Asked why maintaining the tradition is important, their answers were remarkable similar.
“There was a time when this sort of inter-club camaraderie was common,” Keith says, rueing the fact that in the busy world we live in, that has to a great extent been lost. “This is a way to just celebrate curling and the curling club and everything that our clubs have meant to our communities.”
Keith Johnston (l) and Ken Stevens
“It is just inspiring that something with such history is being continued,” Ken says.
On the broad scale, Stevens says it is about connecting generations who have played and continue to play the game but he sees an important more immediate benefit. “To me it is all about how sport can help bring us together,” he says.
While Stevens, Johnston and several others on the two teams have played in the O’Grady a few times, I was not the only rookie in the Fort Rouge group.
Being part of that century old tradition was my reason for being there but wondered why Scott Macdonell and Nathan Wilson were there. They are young men with busy lives. I asked why they had taken the time to spend an afternoon curling with this group of mostly much older guys.
I was delighted by their answers – completely different but both very honest, important reasons.
“I read in the Fort Rouge 100th anniversary history book about our club’s involvement in the O’Grady over the years,” Nathan says. “I said at the time – ‘wow, it would be really cool to play in that one day’. As soon as I was asked, I jumped at the opportunity.”
Scott, whose father Don (an FRCC past-president) wrote that history, had a really simple response. “Nathan was so excited to play in it that I really just wanted to be part of it with him,” he says.
Two significant responses – one young man wanting to celebrate the history of curling in the province by being part of something 100+ years old; the other simply wanting to celebrate a friendship through their shared interest in the sport of curling.
Don’s motive was obvious when he invited/encouraged them to participate. He was doing his part in extending the tradition into the next generation of Manitoba curlers. It didn’t hurt for either of them when Don mentioned that the hospitality extended by the host club to the visiting club is an important part of the tradition. (apparently free food and beer is also a tradition the younger generation is keen to see continue!!)
Scott MacDonell (l) and Nathan Wilson
Those were the reasons they said yes – but having participated, I also wanted to know their thoughts now about why the O’Grady tradition is important. Their answers were thoughtful.
“I was worried that we might not be good enough curlers but that didn’t matter,” Scott said. “It is all about the fun, the score was irrelevant.” (For the record – no issue about good enough – these two young curlers are good players!)
“It is supposed to be about two clubs coming together but we discovered that we didn’t even know most of the guys from our own club,” Nathan said, admitting meeting us all might be the most important thing accomplished that day.
“These are the regular guys at the club, just having fun, he concluded”
What better way could there be to celebrate the grand game of curling???
To the travelling curlers from Fort Rouge, and their hosts today at Lorette, I extend my sincere hope that your day will be as memorable for you as mine was last week at St. Vital.
(For the record, the hospitality at St. Vital was warm and welcoming! The curling itself: the reason for being there but irrelevant to the story!)
It should be noted, however, that there is an ’official game sheet” that goes in the record book. Such a game sheet exists for all 1,500+ games in the series going right back to the beginning. You can find those records and more HERE on the CurlManitoba website.
The Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum Inc. (MCHoF&M) has announced the induction of five “historically significant” teams into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.
W.H Burns 1932 Team Manitoba’s First Olympians
The announcement was made December 3, 2021 in a virtual (Zoom) news conference.
“With the shutdown caused by the pandemic, we hope to induct the 2020 Class of Curling Hall of Fame honourees at a banquet in May of 2022,” says MCHoF&M President Peter Nicholls. “With the enforced delay in our normal routine, we have had an opportunity to go back and look at Manitoba’s curling history and we have identified five teams who we feel have historically significant accomplishments in our history.”
The normal Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame induction process is for new inductees to be announced and then celebrated at a formal induction ceremony. However, with this 2021 group of inductee teams, as the most recent of these accomplishments took place nearly 70 years ago, the teams have been announced and formally inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of at the same time.
Given that the attention of Canadian Curling was focussed all last week on the curlers chasing the Olympic curling dream, it is fitting that the group of “historically significant” teams includes the first Manitoba team to compete at the Olympics, the men’s and women’s teams which won the first competitive events under Manitoba Curling Association auspices in this province, the first team to win back-to-back MCA Bonspiel Aggregate awards, and the first women’s team to win at a level above a provincial championship level.
These five team accomplishments range across more than half a century of Manitoba curling from 1889 to 1955.
A brief summary of accomplishments follows. The complete story is available at the 2021 Hall of Famers page on the newly launched MCHoF&M website (mbcurlmuseum.com).
1889: The Sam Harstone team from Winnipeg’s new Granite Curling Club won the New York Life Challenge Cup – the FIRST championship of the Annual Bonspiel of the Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (later the MCA Bonspiel). Representative of all of the teams who competed in that first bonspiel, helping to establish the 135+ year tradition of the MCA Bonspiel (now Manitoba Open).
The 1901 Hector McLean Team
1900-1901-1902: The Hector McLean teams from Holland were the first apparent ‘dynasty’ in Manitoba Men’s curling. They won the 1900 MCA Bonspiel championship (New York Life Challenge). In 1901 & 1902, they won the “Special Aggregate” in the first two years such an honour was presented.
The McLean team’s MCA Bonspiel domination for the three year period was “winning at the highest possible level” as there was not yet a provincial championship and teams from far and wide acknowledged that the MCA bonspiel was effectively a world championship of the time.
1914-1915: In the style of the time, the record books show Mrs. F.R. Munro’s team from Strathcona Ladies CC were the winners of “The Ladies Competition” which was added to the MCA Bonspiel in 1914 and they won again in 1915.
The 1914 Munro Team
This pre-dated formation of the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association by about a decade and is believed to be the first formal competitive event for women curlers in Manitoba.
(MCHoF&M acknowledges the standard of the time, recording the women’s names only as Mrs. __, as unacceptable today. Research continues to try to determine given names. However, we do not believe the absence of these names should preclude these women from a rightful place in the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.)
1932: In 1924 and again in 1932, curling was a demonstration sport at the Olympics. In 1932, at Lake Placid, an international competition occurred involving four teams from Canada and four from USA. The four teams from each country played the four teams from the other country. Manitoba’s team, skipped by William H. Burns of Portage, was the only team to win all four games and hence was awarded the gold medals – Manitoba’s first Olympians.
The 1955 Wright Team
1955: The Ethel Wright team from Flin Flon was the first Manitoba team to win the Western Canadian Ladies Curling Championship. As the first Manitoba women’s team to win at a level above the provincial championship level, the Wright team helped create the competitive opportunity for the many champions who have followed.
The Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum Inc. is pleased to announce the launch of its Virtual Museum website.
The museum website, including the first Manitoba curling on-line museum exhibit as well as the on-line Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame, can be found at www.mbcurlmuseum.com
“With the support of our donors and with dedicated volunteer effort by our volunteers, we have accomplished one of our Board’s recent primary objectives,” says MCHoF&M President Peter Nicholls.
The MCHoF&M accepted some time ago that there might never again be a physical location for the Museum and Hall of Fame due to the costs involved. Therefore a commitment was made to establish an on-line presence to display the remarkable museum collection as well as to recognize Manitoba curling’s Hall of Fame inductees.
“Over the past couple of years, we have undertaken fund-raising to develop the website and we know that our contributors have been looking forward to seeing the on-line result,” says Nicholls. “We think they will like what they see.”
The first ‘exhibit’ in the on-line Manitoba curling museum is a history of the Manitoba men’s championship which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025.
The exhibit outlines the history of the Manitoba championship, which pre-dated the Canadian Brier by two years, including a pictorial display of the trophies which the Manitoba men have competed for (only SIX trophies in the nearly 100 years), notes about the various sponsors (only FOUR sponsorsin the nearly 100 years), plus record of all of the championship venues, the champions and other championship details.
The Manitoba curling collection includes over 30,000 items including artifacts, historical images/photos and documents. The next stage of making this collection available on-line is the complete digitization of the collection and establishment of a searchable link on the website. This process is currently underway.
In the meantime, now that the Virtual Museum has been launched and the first exhibit is available for viewing, the challenge facing MCHoF&M volunteers is to develop new exhibits.
“Just as this first exhibit focuses attention on the Manitoba Men’s championship which will be played in Selkirk in two months’ time, our task will be to develop future exhibits which are both timely and informative,” Nicholls says.
Before launching the new website, MCHoF&M volunteers also undertook to review all 200+ Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame inductee honour scrolls and update those which required renewal.
“As curling is truly a lifetime sport, many curlers continue to play at a high level for years after they are inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Nicholls explains. “The best example is probably Jeff Stoughton who was recognized initially for a Hall of Fame Mixed career and went on from that to set records in the Manitoba Men’s championship which may never be matched. That information has all been updated at the online Hall of Fame.”
Manitoba curling fans are invited to visit the new on-line Museum and Curling Hall of Fame (mbcurlmuseum.com) and are encouraged to consider a donation to support the effort to celebrate Manitoba’s curling history.
There are links on the website to the Winnipeg Foundation (to contribute to our long-term Foundation account) and to CanadaHelps.org (to contribute to short-term operating expenses). Both are able to issue charitable donations receipts on behalf of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum.
thecurler.com 