Andrew Irving and his Fort Rouge team have won their second consecutive Manitoba Open bonspiel championship. The Fort Rouge team defeated Dean Dunstone (Granite) 4-1 Monday evening at St. Vital. It makes the Irving foursome the first back-to-back bonspiel champions in the years since the Manitoba Open format was implemented.

Irving’s ASHAM Event winning team this year includes Brad Van Walleghem, Ronan Gueret, Roy Janz, and Alex Forrest. In addition to the bonspiel championship, the Fort Rouge team also earns an invitation to compete in the Viterra championship in Stonewall, February 6-11.

The Dunstone team, which includes Greg Melnichuk, Al Purdy, Bruce Wyche, and Scott Kidd will be invited to compete in Stonewall as the winner of a Manitoba Open berth.

The third Manitoba Open Viterra invitation belongs to Brad Micholson – Deer Lodge (Ian Campbell, Rayan Lagace, Paul Nielands, Norm Gautron) after a NOTT AUTOCORP Event final game 7-6 win over Paul Scinocca – St. Vital (Ed Barr, Joel Marcon, Joel Newberry, Logan Schirmeister)

The Dunstone berth became available because the finalists in the ORIGINAL 16 Event, Corey Chambers (Portage) and Steen Sigurdson (Deer Lodge) could not use the bonspiel berth. Sigurdson’s team is already qualified for Stonewall and Chambers’ Mixed team would not be eligible for the Viterra Men’s championship.

For the record, the Original 16 final game was won Team Sigurdson (Josh Claeys, Scott Bruce, Scott Peterson) with a 6-4 win over Chambers ( Lisa McLeod, Julien Leduc, Jolene Callum).

The winners of the minor events in the bonspiel were:
ATKINS: Lucas Pedersen (Arden) defeated Tom Cameron (Pembina) 12-7
MANITOBA HYDRO: Michael Zacharias (Roland) defeated Tom Scott (Hibbing, MN) 9-4
DYNASTY: Kristy Mackie (St. Vital) defeated Andrew Wickman (Fort Rouge) 5-4
BITUMINEX PAVING: Craig Nicholl (Stonewall) defeated Alex Stanley (Pembina) 9-2
MANITOBA PORK COUNCIL: Rob Keough (Deer Lodge) defeated Evan Gillis (Morden) 9-4
CURLMANITOBA: Ken Ringaert (Fort Rouge) defeated Greg Bartley (Pembina) 7-3
MCMUNN & YATES: Mike Mahon (Granite) defeated Jeremy Sundell (Holland) 7-6
SPORT MANITOBA: Harvey Levitt (Pembina) defeated Justin Reischeck (Carberry) 9-8

Andrew Irving (Fort Rouge) is two wins away from winning a second consecutive Asham main event championship in the Manitoba Open. Corey Chambers (Portage) is two wins away from skipping the first mixed team to the bonspiel championship. And a dozen teams (if they are eligible) are closing on on a Viterra championship berth.

As play begins this morning, there are 4 teams still alive in the chase for the Manitoba Open Championship AND a total of 20 still playing in the main (Asham) and the next two (Nott Autocorp & Original 16) events which lead to a Viterra Championship berth. Many of the names are well known or at least recognizable.

That does not mean 20 eligible teams for three berths. Some already have berths, at least one is a mixed team, at least one is an out of province team, and a casual observer won’t know who is ineligible OR who is planning a sunny vacation at the time of the Viterra.

So that will all play out over today’s draws but as play begins, here are the survivors.

ASHAM 9AM: Winners play Monday at St Vital for the Championship
Andrew Irving (Ft Rouge) vs Paul Scinocca (St Vital)  AT Heather
Corey Chambers (Portage) vs Dean Dunstone (Granite) AT St. Vital

ORIGINAL 16 9AM: Winners play at 3PM at St Vital
Ryan Hlatkey (St Vital) vs Steen Sigurdson (Deer Lodge) AT Elmwood
Merv Satterthwaite (St Vital) vs Dennis Bohn (AMCC) AT Elmwood
Allan Godfrey (St Vital) vs Evan Martin (East St Paul) AT Fort Rouge
Derrick Anderson (Gimli) vs Timothy Friesen (East St Paul) AT Fort Rouge

NOTT AUTOCORP NOON: Winners play at 6PM at St Vital or Assiniboine Memorial
Dan Birchard (Pembina) vs Justin Reynolds (Wpg Beach) AT Fort Rouge
Jeff Stewart (Gladstone) vs Brett Walter (AMCC) AT St. Vital
Howard Doerksen (Pembina) vs Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge) AT Assiniboine Memorial
Darren Perche (Charleswood) vs Soctt Moncur (Canmore AB) AT West St. Paul

At first glance only 12 of those teams MIGHT be eligible to win a Viterra berth – by this stage, eligibility has been confirmed, but it would take a reporter with more energy to track down the exact details.

And besides, my team and 31 others are still playing this morning in the Half ‘Spiel

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SEVEN TEAMS ALREADY HAVE VITERRA BERTHS
Steen Sigurdson (Deer Lodge)
Dan Birchard (Pembina)
Juston Reynolds (Winnipeg Beach)
Jeff Stewart (Gladstone)
Brett Walter (AMCC)
Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge)
Darren Perche (Charleswood)
Corey Chambers (Portage) – already has a berth with Braden Calvert – but the ‘spiel team is a mixed one with Lisa McLeod & Jolene Callum, so would be ineligible anyway.

AND WHO ELSE CAN’T WIN ONE?
Scott Moncur – Canmore, AB

As noted above, there may be other ineligible teams as well – determining that as they advance makers for an interesting day!

It used to be considered a near-impossible shot.

Walk onto a sheet of curling ice that you have never played on – or maybe played on last year once – and throw a draw which covers the pinhole. No practice – no sweeping! Impossible – right?

Not anymore.

Assiniboine Memorial past-President Ken Onagi did it last night at Charleswood, before the opening draw of the Manitoba Bonspiel. His success earned him the use of a Tesla vehicle for a month complements of Nott Autocorp.

Nott Autocorp and CurlManitoba have partnered in the contest for the last nearly ten years. Each year, three bonspiel competitors are drawn randomly and they take part in the shootout during the bonspiel’s opening ceremony.

The rules are that simple – one shot, no practice, so sweeping and stop your stone fully within the button’s outside line.

The closest anyone has come in the past is a draw which stopped fully in the four foot.

Ken Onagi will admit he probably isn’t going to win the bonspiel championship but for all time, he has bragging rights to being the first to make what used to be considered an impossible curling shot!

The Manitoba Open bonspiel kicked off Thursday with opening ceremonies at the Charleswood Curling Club.

Over a thousand curlers, 192 teams in the Open and 64 teams in the weekend half ‘spiel, will populate the Winnipeg curling clubs for the next four days.

The bonspiel continues to attract curlers young and not so young; rural and city teams; men and women; high skill players and some maybe not so much. In what is still the world’s largest bonspiel, all 192 teams were equal at the first rock, equal in their love of the game and all with a chance to win the bonspiel championship.

That equal chance will change rapidly in the first two days as teams drop to the lower level events – leaving the more skilled teams to compete for the bonspiel championship and for eligible teams, a chance to win one of three available Viterra Championship berths.

The ceremonial opening rock was handled by junior Jaelyn Perche and dedicated Charleswood club volunteer Jane Howe (as the sweepers), club past-president Ron Margolis (holding the broom), and 86 year old Art Oakes, the oldest active curler at Charleswood (throwing). The ceremonial rock came up a little short of the rings but found an even better stopping point in a Charleswood club logo just in front of the rings.

The Manitoba Historical Society has recognized CurlManitoba (and its predecessors Manitoba Curling Association, Manitoba Ladies Curling Association, & Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club) with the presentation of the Society’s Centennial Organization Award.

The award is presented to non-profit and not-for-profit organizations that have operated continuously in Manitoba for 100 years or more. This program parallels MHS’s Centennial Farm and Centennial Business Awards.

The award was presented at the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Manitoba Open Bonspiel at Charleswood Curling Club, Thursday, January 19 by MHS President Dan Furlan and Council Member Gary Moir.

In making the presentation, Furlan & Moir explained that the award honours organizations which have enhanced Manitoba’s social, cultural and economic life for over 100 years.

To date, the award has been presented to about 35 organizations by the Manitoba Historical Society which was formed in 1879, predating the Manitoba Curling Associations by about a decade.

CurlManitoba President Keith Johnston, who accepted the presentation on behalf of the 135 years of Association Presidents who have preceded him, expressed sincere appreciation for the recognition as acknowledgement of the important role the sport of curling has played in clubs and communities right across the province.

The original curling association, the Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland, was formed following a meeting at Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club on December 6, 1888. The seven originating member clubs were the Granite and Thistle Clubs from Winnipeg plus the clubs from Carberry, Portage, Morden, Stony Mountain, and Stonewall.

In 1908, most likely because of costs relating to the formal membership in the Scottish Association, the organizational structure and the name were changed to Manitoba Curling Association – in affiliation with the Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland.

By 1921, a revised Constitution simply stated “the organization shall be called the Manitoba Curling Association and shall be affiliated with the Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland.”

In 1925, the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association was established. The men’s (MCA) and women’s (MLCA) curling associations operated independently for the next 75 years, with one important junction point. In the early 1980’s a ‘joint council’ was established with representation of five persons (usually the executive committees) from each organization meeting together to manage projects of mutual interest. Mainly this related to the technical development aspects of the sport, including the hiring of the first technical sport staff.

In 2000, the Manitoba Curling Association and the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association amalgamated to form one provincial curling association. It was known as the Manitoba Curling Association.

In approximately 2010, the organization adopted the name now utilized – CurlManitoba. While the legal name of the organization remains Manitoba Curling Association, this name is rarely used except in formal situations such as legal contracts.