l-r Sponsor Jim Anton – Sun Life Financial, champions Harold Peterson & Herb Sulkers, MSCA Director Lynne Rehbein, MSCA President Britta Spiring (MSCA photo)
Herb Sulkers & Harold Peterson, representing the Beausejour Curling Club, are the Manitoba 2-person Stick Champions for 2024. They won the Manitoba championship, and the right to wear the Manitoba jackets in April at the Canadian event in Toronto, Sunday afternoon at Curl Morris.
Sulkers & Peterson played Terry Proctor and Darren MacMillan (Warren) in the championship’s final game. The game turned in the fourth end when Peterson made a draw past his own stone at the top of the rings to freeze to his own shot stone on the back of the button. After a time out to consider options, MacMillan played a runback just missed the contact need to blow the two stones out of the rings and Peterson drew for three to lead 4-2.
Peterson & Sulkers gave up a single on the fifth end and controlled the sixth, and final, end to win without throwing their final stone.
In the semi-finals, Sulkers & Peterson defeated Ross MacMillan & Bev Schick (Warren) while Proctor & MacMillan bested Charlie McCulllough & Wayne Johnston (Carman).
The other four qualifiers included Harold Hamilton & Willie Friesen and Norm Magnusson & Resby Coutts (Fort Rouge), Ralph Nespor & Rob Lacombe (Stonewall), and Jim Rouse & Jim Webster (Warren).
The Canadian Championship will be played April 17-21 at Toronto’s Leaside Curling Club.
Braden Calvert and his Fort Rouge team are a win away from their long dreamed about trip to the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship.
A berth in the Montana’s Brier in Regina will be on the line at 2:30PM Sunday afternoon when Team Calvert plays the winner of the Sunday morning Viterra Championship semi-final between top seeded Team Carruthers and #4 seed Jordon McDonald.
It took an extra end Saturday evening but the #3 seeded Calvert team was an 8-7 last stone winner over Team Carruthers in the Page Playoff 1-2 game. Up 7-5 coming home, Braden Calvert faced three with his last stone draw. He saw that rock slide deep to give the Brad Jacobs-skipped team a steal of two to force the extra end. Their last shot on the extra was an open hit in the four foot facing two and it was a perfect nose hit for the win.
Calvert and Carruthers were the Saturday morning “A” Side qualifers with wins over Ryan Wiebe and Riley Smith respectively.
Jordon McDonald and Jeff Stewart were the “B” side qualifers for the Page Playoff championship round. On the Saturday 2PM draw, McDonald ousted Wiebe and Stewart beat Smith.
The McDonald-Stewart Page 3-4 Playoff game was a tight affair with McDonald making a last stone hit facing two for a 4-3 victory.
The McDonald-Carruthers game is scheduled for 9AM in Stonewall. The winner will pay Calvert at 2:30PM in the final.
Justin Richter, skip of a Beausejour entry in the 2024 Viterra Championship, has been voted by the curlers as the 2024 recipient of the Pat Spiring Award. It is the second consecutive, and third overall, selection of Richter for the award.
Laurie Macdonell, on behalf of CurlManitoba, presents the 2024 Pat Spiring Award to Justin Richter
The award was established by the family and CurlManitoba back in 2014 in tribute to the memory of Pat Spiring.
The past recipients of the award are:
Pat was respected by his fellow competitors for is on-ice ability, his competitive spirit, his love of the game, and his respect for the traditions and spirit of the sport of curling. Each year, the curlers in the Viterra championship are asked to select a recitpient who embodies those same characteristics.
2024: Justin Richter 2023: Justin Richter 2022: not presented 2021: not presented 2020: William Lyburn 2019: Rob Van Kommer & Cory Barkley 2018: Andrew Wickman 2017: Jason Gunnlaugson 2016: Justin Richter 2015: Kelly Robertson 2014: Kelly Robertson & Allan Lyburn
Brad Jacobs was ambushed by Riley Smith early Friday but bounced back to win a pair including an extra end shootout with Jordon McDonald.
Down to eight teams, the 2024 Manitoba Men’s Championship began a new double-knockout playoff round Friday evening in Stonewall and the fans at Stonewall’s Veteran’s Memorial Sports Complex got more than their money’s worth.
The feature match-up was Team Carruthers against the young Jordan McDonald team. In the tenth end, needing a point to tie, McDonald played a runback on a centre guard which killed the two Carruthers counters and moved two more Carruthers stones. They had the one and there was a measure for a pair to win. The measure went Team Carruthers way and the McDonald team built an end on the eleventh which was looking good until Jacobs threw a quadruple take-out hit to lie one. With his final stone, McDonald buried a draw and forced Team Carruthers skip Brad Jacobs to draw the four-foot circle for an 8-7 victory.
In other games Riley Smith also needed an extra end for an 9-8 win over Brett Walter; Ryan Wiebe defeated Greg Todoruk 8-6; and Braden Calvert was a 12-3 winner over Jeff Stewart.
The 9AM Saturday draw will identify the first two qualifiers for the Page Playoff Championship round. Team Carruthers will play Riley Smith and Braden Calvert will play Ryan Wiebe.
The 9AM elimination game matchups will be Greg Todoruk vs Jeff Stewart and Jordon McDonald vs Brett Walter.
The third & fourth championship qualifiers will come from the 2PM draw.
On the Friday 8:30AM draw, the “A” side qualifiers were Riley Smith-Charleswood, with a score of three coming home to beat Team Carruthers-Granite; Ryan Wiebe-Fort Rouge (7-5 over Justin Richter-Beausejour); Braden Calvert-Fort Rouge (5-2 win over Greg Todoruk-Dauphin); and Jordon McDonald-Assiniboine Memorial (6-2 over Brett Walter-AMCC) .
On the Friday 4PM draw, Carruthers (9-2 over Logan Ede-Stonewall), Todoruk (7-0 over Steve Irwin-Brandon), and Walter (9-2 over Cale Dunbar-Brandon) all bounced back to qualify for the playoff round through the “B” side of the draw. Richter was defeated 7-6 by Jeff Stewart-Gladstone.
Prior to the Friday evening draw, CurlManitoba announced the results of the players’ selection as the recipient of the annual Pat Spiring Memorial Award. Justin Richter was the curler chosen, for the second consecutive year, as the one who best exemplifies the late Pat Spiring’s ability, competitive spirit, love of the game, and respect for the traditions & spirit of the sport of curling.
With play underway in Stonewall to determine this year’s Viterra Manitoba Men’s Curling Champions, CurlManitoba has announced that the 2025 event will be co-hosted by the Portage Curling Club and Portage Regional Recreation Authority at Stride Place in Portage.
The 32-team gathering of curlers from across Manitoba will take on special significance in 2025 as it is the 100th anniversary of the very first Manitoba championship played in 1925, and won by the legendary Howard Wood Sr.
Coincidentally, because of the one-year cancellation of the championship in 2021 due to Covid, the 2025 event will also be the actual 100th Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship.
We are delighted to be able to bring the championships back to Portage,” say host committee co-chairs Rob Gemmell and Dean Moxham. “Stride Place is a great curling-venue arena and an ideal size to host the Viterra Championship.”
“CurlManitoba is pleased to be able to confirm the venue and announce it at this time. This allows us to begin the preparations for a true celebration of the history of curling and of this championship,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker.
Portage has hosted the Manitoba Men’s Championship on three different occasions. The 2017 Viterra Championship was won there by Mike McEwen; the 2003 Safeway Championship by John Bubbs; and the 1999 Safeway Select by Jeff Stoughton.
The Manitoba Men’s championship was played in Winnipeg until 1968. That year, it was played in Brandon’s Wheat City Arena.
In all Brandon has been the host city nine times. Selkirk has hosted six times; Portage will join Dauphin, Neepawa and Virden as four time hosts; Morden and Steinbach have hosted twice; and Beausejour, Flin Flon, Thompson, Stonewall and Winkler have hosted once each.
Canada’s men’s curling championship, the Brier, was first played in 1927. In the two years after Manitoba’s championship was established, the Manitoba champions (Wood in 1925 and George Sherwood in 1926) were sponsored by Macdonald Tobacco on good-will visits to Eastern Canada to compete in events against the best curlers in the east. The sponsor and organizers recognized the merits of a national event and the Brier was born.
The Viterra Championship version of the tagline “everyone wants to beat the champion” ALMOST came true doubly Friday afternoon at the 2024 Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship in Stonewall.
Tie game – skip rocks to come. Justin Reynolds and his team meet to make a plan. Wiebe as last rock – they know whatever they do, he is peeling the guard but what should they do? The elect to try hit an roll behind – hoping for a break but they roll out. Wiebe peels – they draw wide. Wiebe nose hits for the win.
In this instance replace ‘champion’ with ‘top seed’ and it was #1 seed Team Carruthers, skipped by Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs, who almost got beat. It was 2023 Saskatchewan junior champion Logan Ede, skipping a young Stonewall team, who pushed the top seed to the limit. Tied 2-2 coming home, the Ede foursome was laying three when Jacobs made his last stone hit for the 3-2 win.
At the same time, second seed Ryan Wiebe was pushed past ten ends by Justin Reynolds and his team from Winnipeg Beach. Tied 6-6, Wiebe had last shot on the extra end and, like Jacobs, had a hit to win 7-6.
On the “A” Side of the preliminary double knock-out round, the top seeds joined six other winners to set up the 8:30AM Friday draw, when the first four Qualifiers will be identified for the next Playoff Round.
The teams which have won their first two games, and their Friday morning match-ups are:
#1 Team Carruthers (Granite) vs #7 Riley Smith (Charleswood) #2 Ryan Wiebe (Fort Rouge) vs Justin Richter (Beausejour) #3 Braden Calvert (Fort Rouge) vs Greg Todoruk (Dauphin) #4 Jordon McDonald (Assiniboine Memorial) vs #5 Brett Walter (Assiniboine Memorial)
Meanwhile, the original 32-team has has been cut to sixteen. On the “B” Side of the draw, #6 Steve Irwin (Brandon) has won a pair of games after a first round loss but #8 seed Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge) has been eliminated. The “B” Side survivors are Irwin, Cale Dunbar (Brandon), Logan Ede (Stonewall), Hayden Forrester (Fort Rouge), Jace Freeman (Virden), Justin Reynolds (Winnipeg Beach), Jeff Stewart (Gladstone), and Devon Wiebe (Charleswood).
With two notable exceptions, the opening day of the 2024 Viterra Manitoba Men’s Curling Championships went as might have been predicted.
Many times a champion, Brad Jacobs was one of 36 players who played his first Manitoba Men’s Championship game February 7 in Stonewall
On the first day of play in the 32-team double knockout preliminary round, the top eight seeds are drawn against seeds 25 to 32 while the middle sixteen teams play an opponent closer to their own status according to the draw seeding which is done exclusively by the other teams. The results of those first eight games are considered predictable while the other eight games are usually considered toss-ups.
Consequently, a first game loss by a top-eight seeded team is considered to be an upset and 2024’s first day saw two of them.
Jesse Janz, playing in his second Viterra championship got his first win with an 8-6 win over #8 seed Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge). The Baldur team scored three on the seventh end and broke open a 3-3 tie.
The #6 seed, Steve Irwin (Brandon), also lost his opening game. The Brandon team trailed 8-1 after 6 ends but scored three consecutive deuces against Greg Todoruk (Dauphin) to trail 8-7 coming home. The Brandon team as laying three when Todoruk threw a last stone draw through a port to touch the shot stone on the four foot circle and score one for a 9-7 win.
Dropping to the B-Side of the draw, Grassie faced Dean North (Carman) in a late draw elimination game. Grassie, who had stolen singles twice in the game, was tied 5-5 coming home without last rock and was able to post a third steal for a 6-5 win.
Also in an elimination game, Irwin trailed Greg Melnichuk (Granite) 3-1 at the mid-game break. Irwin led 5-4 playing the tenth and forced Melnichuk to draw for 1 facing two to tie. Irwin controlled the extra end. He had an open hit in the centre of the rings for a 7-5 win.
Results for the other top-8 seeded teams in their only games on opening day were:
# 1 Team Carruthers, Granite: 9-1 win over Brad Micholson, Deer Lodge #2 Ryan Wiebe, Fort Rouge: 10-3 win over Grant Brown, Burntwood #3 Braden Calvert, Fort Rouge: 10-5 win over Jeremy Sundell, Holland #4 Jordon McDonald, Assiniboine Memorial: 9-2 win over Glen Toews, Dauphin #5 Brett Walter, Assiniboine Memorial: 9-4 win over Travis Gregory, Hamiota #7 Riley Smith, Charleswood: 8-5 win over Mark Lowdon, La Salle
With North and Melnichuk, the other late draw elimination game losers were Jeremy Sundell (Holland) and Grant Brown (Burntwood).
Newly crowned Saskatchewan champion Mike McEwen will be in Stonewall this week for Manitoba’s Viterra Championship.
Mike McEwen with his Saskatchewan champion teammates (r-l) Colton Flasch, Daniel & Kevin Marsh, Coach Brent Laing
The four-time Manitoba Men’s champion skip (+ 2 juniors & 1 mixed) will provide the expert analysis on CurlManitoba’s livestream ‘broadcasts’ of the weekend playoff round as well as one preliminary round game.
McEwen has been a competitor in the last eight Canadian Brier championships as Manitoba champion, as a wildcard entry, and last year as the Ontario champion. He is the first skip to win three provinces and has done it three years in a row Manitoba (2022), Ontario (2023), and now Saskatchewan (2024).
As skip of the current #6 ranked team on the CTRS, and as a longtime Manitoba competitor, McEwen’s insights into the skills and strategies of the competing teams will enhance the commentary.
McEwen will join the CurlManitoba crew of commentators which includes Rick Brownlee, Pat Carson, Matt Dunlop, Resby Coutts, Keith Johnston, Norm Magnusson, and Craig Nichol. Viterra representative Ray Baloun will also make an appearance in the broadcast booth during the first game Wednesday morning.
The CurlManitoba livestream game will feature a game from every draw – all 17 games from sheet C at Stonewall’s Veteran’s Memorial Arena, thanks to the technical efforts of Big Day Media and the livestream sponsorship of Sunrise Credit Union, Seagram’s 83 and Pharmasave.
A link to CurlManitoba’s YouTube Channel can be found at curlmanitoba.org
(Updated) Bev Schick and Judy Kachkowski, members of the Fort Rouge Friday 2-person Stick Curling League, have won the Manitoba Stick Curling Association’s 2024 Women’s Championship.
MSCA Photo
Schick and Kachkowski won the 24-team event, February 2-4, in Warren with a final game 4-3 victory over Judy Kitching & Isla Hagborg (Stonewall).
Through the weekend, Schick & Kachkowski won 4 of their five round-robin games to qualify for the Sunday playoffs where they ran off three consecutive wins. In the round-robin, that single loss came in their opening game against Kitching & Hagborg, their final game opponents.
According to Judy Kachkowski, the key shot of the final day came in the semi-final against Heather Fontaine & Karen Pineau (St. Vital). They were in a lot of trouble playing the final end. They used a time-out to make a plan – that plan turned out to be a perfect triple raise takeout to stick for shot and solidify the win.
According to Bev Schick, the turning point didn’t come until the fifth end of the final when Kachkowski scored a three to take a two-point lead coming home. Laying two that end, they actually had a rub and roll opportunity to score four but weight was off slightly so only the three went on the scoreboard.
For those unfamiliar, the unique rules of 2-person stick curling include playing a six-end game using six rocks per end with each person playing all six rocks in one direction and their partner playing them back.
As Manitoba’s newest champions, Schick & Kachkowski will be wearing the Manitoba colours at the Canadian Women’s Championship at Toronto’s Leaside Club in mid-April.
The other qualifiers for the playoff round were: Joyce Dawydiuk & Betty Piotrowski, Fort Garry CC Jean Pattyn & Sharon Biehl, St Vital CC Lorna Marr & Val Kolsun, Springfield CC Britta Spiring & Terri Beaudoin, Pembina CC Alison King & Irene Runolfson, Warren CC
Kudos to Jim Rouse and the volunteers of the 3-sheet Warren Curling Club. The 24-team championship bonspiel was the largest 2-person Women’s Stick event yet staged in Manitoba.
(CurlManitoba Release) CurlManitoba has announced the top five seeds and published the draw for the 2024 Viterra Championship in Stonewall.
Stonewall will host the men’s championship for the first time.
The first five seeds are all in the top 40 of the Canadian Team Ranking (CTRS) and four of them are in the top 25.
Rated number one by the competitors in the competition is the Reid Carruthers team with 2014 Olympic Champion Brad Jacobs added to the line-up. Carruthers (2011) and Jacobs (2013) are the only former Brier champions in the field of 32 teams qualified for the Viterra Championship.
THE TOP FIVE SEEDS ARE:
#1 SEED: Reid Carruthers, long-time teammate Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan and Coach Rob Meakin lost the Manitoba final a year ago to Matt Dunstone. Brad Jacobs has joined the team and will skip the team for his first Manitoba championship. Team Carruthers, representing the Granite Curling Club, had early season success with a victory in the PointsBet International and are currently the #5 ranked team on the CTRS. In a modestly successful season, they qualified for the final eight playoff on four other occasions before reaching the final in the mid-January bonspiel in Lloydminster.
#2 SEED: The Ryan Wiebe team (Ty Dilello, Sean Flatt, Adam Flatt, Don Harvey, Coach Tom Clasper) lost the Manitoba semi-final two years ago and reached the 8-team championship round last season. The Fort Rouge team has yet to taste victory this season playing a mostly out-of-province schedule. However, their record has them ranked at #15 on the CTRS. They have qualified for the final eight playoff six times with three semi-finals, including the Mother Club Classic at Winnipeg’s Granite CC, and one final appearance, at the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris.
#3 SEED: Braden Calvert’s Fort Rouge team includes long-time teammate Kyle Kurz with Corey Chambers and Brenda Bilawka added to the roster this year. Playing a mostly Manitoba schedule they have still achieved the #23 CTRS ranking, winning the DEKALB SuperSpiel and Atkins Classic and losing the final of two other events. Calvert and Kurz qualified for the Manitoba final four a year ago but lost the semi-final to Carruthers.
#4 SEED: Jordon McDonald, Elias Huminicki and Cam Olafson won the 2022 Manitoba U-18 and 2023 Manitoba Junior titles together. With Dallas Burgess at third and coached by William Lyburn, the Assiniboine Memorial team has achieved the #24 CTRS ranking with an exclusively Manitoba schedule by qualifying for the final eight playoff in all seven events they played. The successes included three semi-final finishes and one finalist finish and they won the MCT Showdown at East St. Paul and the MCT Shootout at Selkirk.
#5 SEED: Brett Walter, JT Ryan, and Graham & Hugh McFarlane qualified early for the Viterra Championships as winners of the November berth bonspiel in Gimli. A successful November also included victory in the MCT Curling Cup. Playing a limited Manitoba schedule, the Assiniboine Memorial team had one semi-final and one final eight finish and lost the MCT Championship final in mid-January. They are the CTRS #39 ranked team.
The Manitoba champion will represent Manitoba at the Montana’s Brier in Regina in early March, joining the reigning Manitoba champion Matt Dunstone team (CTRS #4) who have already pre-qualified.
In all 20 different Manitoba curling clubs and communities will be represented in the Viterra Championship. With four teams, Fort Rouge has the largest number of qualified teams.
(4) Fort Rouge (3) Assiniboine Memorial, Charleswood, Deer Lodge, (2) Brandon, Dauphin, Granite (1) Baldur, Beausejour, Burntwood, Carman, Gladstone, Hamiota, Holland, La Salle, Pembina, St. Vital, Stonewall, Virden, Winnipeg Beach
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