(January 3/26: CurlManitoba Release) The Sunday morning (9:30AM) semi-final game in the RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH will be a re-match of last year’s final between Team Kate Cameron – St. Adolphe and Team Beth Peterson – Assiniboine Memorial.

It is the third consecutive year for Team Peterson and Team Cameron to reach the final three.

The Sunday afternoon final game of the Manitoba Women’s Curling Championship in Rivers will be played at 2PM with Lawes playing the winner of Cameron vs Peterson.

Defending champion Cameron (Briane Harris, Taylor McDonald, Mackenzie Elias, Coach Derek Samagalski) was moved to the semi-final Saturday evening with a 7-4 loss in the Page 1-1 game at the hands of 2024 champion Kaitlyn Lawes – Heather (Selena Njegovan, Jocelyn Peterman, Kristin Gordon, Coach Marcel Rocque).

The Peterson team (Kelsey Calvert, Katherine Remillard, Melissa Gordon-Kurz Coach Kyle Kurz), skipped by Calvert, was a short-game winner in the Page 2-2 game over Lane Prokopowich – Granite (Mikaylah Lyburn, Caitlin Kostna, Stephanie Feeleus, Coach William Lyburn).

Earlier in the day Saturday, Lawes had defeated Peterson and Cameron had defeated Kristy Watling – East St. Paul (Laura Burtnyk, Emily Deschenes, Sarah Pyke) to advance to the Page 1-1 game.

Watling dropped in to a play-in game where her East St. Paul team was defeated by Prokopowich.

The loss to Lawes had dropped Peterson into the second play-in game where they defeated Lisa McLeod – Pembina (Christine McKay, Emily Cherwinski, Jolene Callum, Coach Lyall Hudson).

The 2026 playoffs exactly replicate 2024: the Kaitlyn Lawes team earned the spot in the final while Cameron played Peterson in the semi-final. A Peterson win put her team in the final against Lawes, with Lawes victorious.

(January 2/26: CurlManitoba Release) TOP TWO SEEDS UNDEFEATED; PLAYOFFS SET…… Top seeded Kaitlyn Lawes and her Heather team and defending champion & second seed Kate Cameron’s St Adolphe team have run through the round-robin at the RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH with perfect 5W-0L records. The two teams finish first in their respective pools.

In the playoffs of the Manitoba Women’s Curling Championship in Rivers, Lawes will play the second place team from the Asham UltraForce pool, Team Beth Peterson (AMCC). Cameron plays the second place team in the Asham pool, the Kristy Watling team from East St. Paul.

Lawes’ first place standing was definite starting her final round robin game but Cameron had to earn first place with a last round win over Team Peterson in a late draw re-match of last year’s final.

Watling’s second place finish came through the tie-breaker last-stone draw process.

A final round Watling win over Sarah Jane Sass (Heather) and a Lawes win over Lisa McLeod (Pembina), left a three-way Sass/McLeod/Watling tie with identical 3W-2L records. The tie-breaker LSD tally eliminated Sass and placed Watling second with McLeod third.

Lane Prokopwich and her young Granite team went on the ice for the late draw Friday knowing they already had third place and a playoff berth. Even with a loss, which did occur in their game with Hailey McFarlane (Rivers), they would be tied with the winner of the Darcy Robertson (Heather) vs Alyssa Calvert (Carberry) game. The game was won by Calvert, giving them both a 2W-3L record but Prokopowich had beaten Calvert earlier in the day and that head-to-head result was the tiebreaker in their pool.

The first round of playoffs, the Lawes vs Peterson and Cameron vs Watling games, will go at 10AM Saturday. The winners advance while the losers drop to elimination games against Prokopowich and McLeod. That second playoff draw is set for 2:30PM Saturday.

(January 1/26: CurlManitoba Release) TOP THREE SEEDS ALL UNBEATEN ………The top three seeds in the RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH have all won their first three games in the Manitoba provincial women’s championship underway in Rivers.

Top seed Kaitlyn Lawes and her Heather team posted their third win on the afternoon draw Thursday. This seeded Team Beth Peterson (skipped by Kelsey Calvert), the finalist each of the last two years, had already posted their third win Thursday evening when #2 seed Kate Cameron (St. Adolphe) went into a dramatic extra end on the late draw.

Carberry’s Alyssa Calvert team scored a single with an outstanding draw to the four foot to tie Cameron 6-6 after ten ends. The extra end was a classic. The guards were placed perfectly when Calvert second Pam Robins threw a remarkable draw to the button, perfectly angled between two Cameron stones in the four foot circle. Five guards were removed and replaced – leaving Cameron nothing but an angle rise takeout with a stone off the rings. Again perfection as the defending champion removed the counter and also improved to three wins in three starts.

With two games to be played on Friday by all 12 teams, almost every game played will have an impact on playoff positions for the three teams from each pool who advance to the playoff round on the weekend.

In the Asham UltraForce pool, Cameron and Peterson share the lead with 3W-0L records. They play each other in the final round Friday with that game determining first place in the pool. Three teams with 1W-2lrecords can all still qualify for the playoffs. Lane Prokopowich – Granite upset veteran Darcy Robertson – Heather Friday, giving both a 1W-2L record. Calvert is also at 1W-2L after three games.

In the Asham pool, top seed Kaitlyn Lawes is in the driver’s seat with an unbeaten record. Behind here three teams; Sara-Jane Sass-Heather, Lisa McLeod-Pembina, and Kristy Watling-East St. Paul all share 2W-1L records. Of the four, Team McLeod has the toughest Friday draw as they will face Watling on the early draw and Lawes on the late afternoon draw.

Draws Friday at the Riverdale Community Centre in Rivers are scheduled for 8:30am, 12:15pm, 4:00pm, and 7:45pm. The centre sheet game on every draw is available on the CurlManitoba Youtube channel – look for a link on the CurlManitoba website (curlmanitoba.org)

(December 20: CurlManitoba Release) LAWES TOP SEED FOR RME WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP; CAMERON #2 ……. Three teams who represented Manitoba in the 2026 Olympic qualifying process are the top three seeds in CurlManitoba’s RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

The three are all ranked in Canada’s top 12 on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS).

The top seeded team in the event which takes place at the Riverview Community Centre in
Rivers, beginning December 30, is skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes-Heather. The five-time Manitoba Women’s champion is supported by Selena Njegovan, Jocelyn Peterman, Kristin Gordon and Coach Marcel Roque.

The Lawes team qualified for the championship based on their 2024-25 CTRS ranking. They
started this season strong, winning an early season Edmonton event, they have qualified in two other events since and are ranked #6 on CTRS.

The second seed, as determined by the competing teams, is the defending champion Kate
Cameron-Ste. Adolphe team. Cameron returns with Brianne Harris added to the line-up along with returning Taylor McDonald and Mackenzie Elias. They are coached by Derek Samagalski.

Team Cameron has qualified in five events this season with two finalist finishes. They are the11 th ranked CTRS team.

The top two seeds both competed in the Canadian Curling Trials while the third seed was a Pre-Trials competitor team.

The third seed is last year’s finalist Beth Peterson-Assiniboine Memorial returning with the same line-up (Kelsey Calvert, Katherine Remillard, Melissa Gordon-Kurz). A year ago, Team Peterson lost the RME Women’s final 7-6, tied coming home with Team Cameron. The year previous, Team Peterson had lost 9-8 to Kaitlyn Lawes in the final.

Team Peterson won a CurlManitoba Bonspiel Berth to qualify for this year’s championship and are currently ranked #12 on CTRS. They have a championship, a finalist finish and a semi- finalist finish on their records this year.

The next two seeds are #4 Lisa McLeod – Pembina (Christine MacKay, Emily Cerwinski, Jolene Callum, Coach Lyall Hudson), winners of an MCT Berth and #5 Kristy Watling – East St. Paul (Laura Burtnyk, Emily Deschenes, Sarah Pyke), winners of a CurlManitoba Bonspiel Berth.

McLeod’s team is ranked #20 and Watling is #21 on the CTRS.

Hailey McFarlane’s Rivers team will be the home-town favourite in the Riverview Community
Centre Arena while rural teams from Carberry (Alyssa Calvert) and Manitou (Cheyenne Ehnes) will also attract Westman curling fans.

Along with the teams from Pembina and Assiniboine Memorial, there is a single entry from
Winnipeg’s Granite Club (Lane Prokopowich). With Watling from East St. Paul is the Rachel
Kaatz entry. With Lawes from the Heather are the Sarah Jane Sass and Darcy Robertson
teams.

Robertson will be competing in her record 29th Manitoba Women’s Championship. The three-time champion (2009, 2003, 1986) and 6-time finalist (most recently in 2018) has played more provincial championship games (211) and won more games (136) than any other Manitoba Women’s competitor.

<><><><>Ticket information<><><><>
Event Pass – $125 Early Bird until December 20, 2025 ($150 after December 20)
Day Pass – $40
Last Draw of the day – $20
Children 12 and under are free
Contact riversmbcurlingclub@gmail.com

(CurlManitoba Release) DAY 5 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: It took the last rock in the tenth to determine the outcome as Kate Cameron and her Heather team (Taylor McDonald, Allison Flaxey, Mackenzie Elias, Brianna Cullen) won the 2025 RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Tied 6-6 coming home, Beth Peterson’s Assiniboine Memorial team (Kelsey Calvert, Meghan Walter, Melissa Kurz, Katherine Remillard) forced Cameron to hit with her final stone but she didn’t have to stick her shooter. Cameron made the hit for a 7-6 win.

It is a second Manitoba women’s title for Kate Cameron who was at third for Michelle Englot in 2017. Cameron and Taylor McDonald won Alberta women’s titles in 2020, 2021, and 2022 with Laura Walker. Allison Flaxey, who won the Manitoba and Canadian Mixed in 2009 with Sean Grassie, won the Ontario women’s title in 2014. It is a first women’s championship win for Mackenzie Elias and Brianna Cullen. (Flaxey was a substitution in the line-up as Cullen was away at the start of the week, competing in the World University Championship where her U of Alberta team, skipped by Sera Grey-Withers won the bronze medal.)

The Cameron team will wear the Manitoba colours at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 14-23, in Thunder Bay.

To reach the Sunday afternoon final, Peterson had defeated 3-time former champion Darcy Robertson and her Assiniboine Memorial team (Rhonda Varnes, Brooklyn Meiklejohn, Kylie Lippens, Erika Campbell) in the Sunday morning semifinal.

The two finalists were both a single loss away from not playing Sunday.

Cameron finished the preliminary round of play with a 3W-2L record, to be ranked third in the Asham Pool and earn the last spot from that group in the championship round. The Heather team won all three of their championship round games for a 6W-2L record and the playoff round bye to the final game.

The Peterson team had finished the preliminary round with a 4W-1L record to advance to the championship round as the second ranked team in the Asham Ultra Force but won only one of the championship round games to finish at 5W-3L. That put her in a tiebreaker game Saturday evening needing a win over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa) to play in the Sunday playoffs.

(CurlManitoba Release) CurlManitoba has announced that the 2026 RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH will be played in the Riverdale Community Centre, in the western Manitoba community of Rivers, during the week of January 6-11, 2025

The 2026 RME Women of the Rings will be the second Manitoba Women’s Championship played in the arena in Rivers. Previously, when the event was still called the Scotties, Gimli’s Kerri Einarson and her team (Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard, Briane Harris) won the 2020 Women’s championship and went on to win the first of their four consecutive Canadian championships.

The Rivers Host committee will be co-chaired by Justin Gerrard and Les Wedderburn.

“We look forward to a return to Rivers,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker. “They presented a very ambitious plan to host our junior provincials in the Riverdale Community Centre a few years ago and created a memorable and successful event.”

The Riverdale Community Centre hosted CurlManitoba’s 2016 Junior Women’s and Junior Men’s championships. The 2016 championship is believed to have been the first junior championship event in Canada, and likely the world, to have been played in an arena setting. Prior to that, Rivers had hosted the 2007 Manitoba Junior Men’s in their old curling club.

The 2016 Junior Women’s event was won by Abby Ackland, Robyn Njegovan, Melissa Gordon, and Sara Oliver with Jack Gordon as coach.  That Rivers event was also a stepping stone to success for the Junior Men’s champions that year: Matt Dunstone, Colton Lott, Kyle Doering, and Rob Gordon. They were coached by Calvin Edie.

Co-chair Les Wedderburn, who chaired the 2016 Junior Championship committee, knows there is a real possibility that many of the competitors that week will be among the players who return to compete in the Manitoba Women’s championship.

“Really, it will be exciting to see how many of those young women return to compete in a women’s championship, nine years after they played here as juniors. We know they enjoyed their week here then and we promise them an equally memorable week next year,” says Wedderburn

Co-chair Justin Gerard sees the potential for another great champion to come out of the Riverdale Community Centre event. “We’ve been watching the CurlManitoba livestream this week and we can see there is great Manitoba talent just waiting to break through. Maybe Kerri Einarson’s first win in Rivers, and her subsequent great success, can be an inspiration,” Gerrard says.

While there is no guarantee a year out who will be competing in Rivers, the co-chairs do offer one absolute guarantee – they promise there will be great hospitality at next year’s RME Championship. That starts with continuation of a tradition that began at earlier championship events – the coffee is always on and it is always free at a curling championship event in Rivers!

 (CurlManitoba Release) DAY 4 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: A pair of wins Saturday by top-seeded Kate Cameron (Heather) and 3-time champion Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial) have earned the teams first and second place, respectively, in the Sunday playoffs at the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Both had 6W-2L records after the championship round but Cameron was awarded the bye to the final game Sunday afternoon in Pilot Mound, thanks to her team’s championship round win over Robertson.

Robertson will play the Sunday morning semi-final against Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), winner of a Saturday evening tiebreaker game over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa). The tiebreaker win was also Peterson’s second win of the day.

Peterson, McFarlane and Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) had all finished the championship round with 5W-3L records. The three had beaten each other in their championship round games so, per competition rules, the two teams which advanced to the tiebreaker game were the two with the best Last Stone Draw totals for the week (total of the 2 draws thrown before each of the 8 games to determine last stone in the game).

Cameron and her team were the only one of the six teams to win all three of their championship round games while Robertson, McFarlane, and Watling each won two of their three championship round games.

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND STANDINGS
6W-2L   Kate Cameron (Heather)
6W-2L   Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial)
5W-3L   Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial)
5W-3L   Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa)
5W-3L   Kristy Watling (East St. Paul)
4W-4L   Lisa McLeod (Pembina)

(CURLMANITOBA RELEASE) DAY 2 SUMMARY: CURLMANITOBA RME WOMEN OF THE RINGS PRESENTED BY CASE IH: There are no unbeaten teams left in the 12-team RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH, the Manitoba Women’s Curling Championship underway in Pilot Mound.

The last unbeaten, Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) lost 7-4 on the late draw Thursday to Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial) to finish day two with a 3W-1L record. Robertson, who had lost earlier in the day, improved to an identical 3W-1L record with the win.

With two wins Thursday, Beth Peterson also ends day two with a 3W-1L record in the Asham Ultra Force pool.

Alyssa Calvert (Carberry), who also won two on Thursday, has a 2W-2L record and still has a chance to advance.

Top seeded Kate Cameron (Heather) and #4 seed Lisa McLeod (Pembina) both lost their first game of the day Thursday but bounced back with later victories. Cameron, McLeod, and Hailey McFarlane, who handed Cameron that first lost, all sit atop the Asham Pool with 3W-1L records.

Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite), who lost to McLeod in their second game of the day, split on the day to stay close to the leader group with a 2W-2L record.

Final standings in both pools will be determined by the results of Friday’s 9am and 1pm DRAWS. The top three teams in each pool will advance to the championship round where they will play the three teams from the other pool – with the first round records carrying forward. Three teams will advance from that group of six into Sunday’s playoffs.