I’m not a gambler – but I understand there are two kinds of gamblers: the amateurs who go on their emotions and instincts AND the pros who go on facts.

Those looking for facts as a basis of their bet on the outcome of the “new” best-of-three final series at the Canadian Curling Trials will be hard-pressed to find a reference point in curling. Of course, there are historical records galore to look at this week – to make your bet before the games start.

But is there any set of facts anywhere that can help guide you after the first game has been played in that best-of-three final has been decided. What are the odds the Game #1 winner – will win the trip to the Olympics? Will they do it in two games or three?

Most curling fans will say there is no real reference point – no relevant example in the sport of curling.

NOT SO!! the Manitoba Men’s Championship British Consols final was a best-of-three playoff for 14 years between 1963 and 1976. So the question becomes – do patterns and results from that long ago have any relevance now. I won’t say they do or don’t – but I will say they are facts, perhaps the only example in the sport of curling.

Here are the facts:
EIGHT finals were won in two games while SIX finals required three games.

Of the SIX finals which went three games:
FIVE were won in three games with the Game ONE winner losing #2 and winning #3
Only ONE was won in three with the Game ONE winner losing both games #2 & #3

It is a pretty small sample size, but I don’t know of any other example of a best-of-three playoff in our sport.

Here are the results of those 14 British Consols finals.
1963 – Hersh Lerner beat Bob Picken in two games
1964 – Bruce Hudson beat Gary Ross in three games (Hudson won #1)
1965 – Terry Braunstein beat Bruce Hudson in two games
1966 – Hersh Lerner beat Bruce Hudson in two games
1967 – Bruce Hudson beat Gary Ross in two games
1968 – Burke Parker beat Ralph Wilson in two games
1969 – Bobby Robinson beat Paul Devlin in three games (Robinson won #1)
1970 – Don Duguid beat Bob Friesen in three games (Duguid won #1)
1971 – Don Duguid beat Larry Taylor in two games
1972 – Orest Meleschuk beat Gary Ross in two games
1973 – Danny Fink beat Clare DeBlonde in three games (DeBlonde won #1)
1974 – Don Barr beat Gary Ross in three games (Barr won #1)
1975 – Rod Hunter beat Barry Fry in three games (Hunter won #1)
1976 – Clare DeBlonde beat Terry Braunstein in two games

As for trying to predict who would be in the best-of-three final, history tells us that most of the teams in that list were beginning their great careers and no doubt most would have been picked to be among the favourites in that particular year. However, there are just enough names in the list to tell you “when they start even, anyone can win”. 1968, of course,is the best example of that when Parker and Wilson, two Dauphin area teams, played the final in Brandon while the high profile teams all watched.

What about picking the winner between the final two. Parker-Wilson was a coin-toss! Gary Ross may not have been highly regarded in 1964 but three more in the next ten years was no surprise. Picken was well regarded in ’63 so that year was probably a coin-toss final as well. In fact most were, although there were some clear favourites. Robinson over Devlin in 1969, Duguid over Friesen in 1970, and Duguid over Taylor in 1971 was probably the three year period in those 14, when most would have bet the winner in advance.

As for a long-shot bet to win, at the start of the 1968 event, both Parker and Wilson would have been called that. However, Barr over Ross in ’74 might best fit that description once the final two teams were decided.

(CurlManitoba Release) For only the fifth time in over 100 years, the Manitoba Men’s Curling Championship will have a new title sponsor when the event takes place at Selkirk Recreation Complex on February 3-8, 2026.

As a result of Viterra’s successful business combination with Bunge, the former Viterra Championship will become the Bunge Championship for 2026.

Bunge is only the fifth title sponsor in the history of the men’s championship event.

“We are extremely pleased to have Bunge carry forward the great relationship which we have developed with Viterra,” says Craig Baker, Executive Director of CurlManitoba. “We have always felt that Manitoba curling has an international stature and that is only enhanced by Bunge’s international name recognition.”

“We’re excited to continue our partnership with CurlManitoba, which is a great opportunity to support one of the province’s premier sporting events, as well as local talent from across its communities,” said Kyle Jeworski, head of Canada, Bunge.  “Most importantly, the values exhibited by our curlers – integrity, respect for others, and teamwork – are qualities that are shared by our employees as they work to provide our farm customers with superior service.”

Competitors will not just have a new name in Selkirk but a new format as well. The 24-team competition will be played as a triple knock-out. Six teams will advance to the playoffs.

“A change of format has been under consideration by our competitions committee for a few years and the time is now right to make the change,” Baker says. “We celebrated 100 years of men’s championship competition last year in Portage. There were decades of tradition in the former 32-team format and our committee, who are all competitors themselves, wanted to respect that tradition as we celebrated 100 years.”

Six of the first 100 Manitoba Men’s Championships were played in Selkirk. Most recently, the 2022 championship was played in the Selkirk Curling Club and won by Mike McEwen.  Prior to that McEwen’s team had also won in 2016 in the Selkirk Recreation Complex.  Previous arena championships in Selkirk were played in 2009 (won by Jeff Stoughton), 2005 (won by Randy Dutiaume), 2001 (won by Kerry Burtnyk), and 1993 (won by Vic Peters).

About Bunge: At Bunge (NYSE: BG), our purpose is to connect farmers to consumers to deliver essential food, feed and fuel to the world. As a premier agribusiness solutions provider, our team of ~37,000 dedicated employees partner with farmers across the globe to move agricultural commodities from where they’re grown to where they’re needed—in faster, smarter, and more efficient ways. We are a world leader in grain origination, storage, distribution, oilseed processing and refining, offering a broad portfolio of plant-based oils, fats, and proteins. We work alongside our customers at both ends of the value chain to deliver quality products and develop tailored, innovative solutions that address evolving consumer needs. With 200+ years of experience and presence in over 50 countries, we are committed to strengthening global food security, advancing sustainability, and helping communities prosper where we operate. Bunge has its registered office in Geneva, Switzerland and its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

There may be no right answer in the current discussion about parking lot, affordable housing project, and future of the Granite. I have to admit I would not want to be a Granite CC Board member OR a City of Winnipeg Councillor or bureaucrat right now. For sure, I wouldn’t want to be member of The Municipal Board charged with the final decision. (That Board reconvenes todayfor the four day of hearings.)

However, curling has been my sport from the time I played my first game with my dad at the age of seven – so I have an obvious bias.

Manitoba’s rich curling history is important to me and it should be to all Manitobans – not because it is curling but because it is Manitoba history.  

I admit I get excited every time I stumble upon a “new” curling pin from 1895, a “new” Yearbook from 1923, a “new” sweater from the 1940’s. There is no doubt in my mind these old things are an important part of curling history and of early Manitoba life. I believe it is vitally important for the young curlers of today to have an appreciation for the history of their sport – which began in the Red River settlement days and progressed to formation of the first curling organization west of Ontario in 1888.

For example, the Manitoba Curling Museum’s collection includes several curling “irons”. I think it is important for the people in our sport to know that the Granite Curling Club formed about 1880 when a group of curlers splintered from the existing Winnipeg Curling Club because they wanted to play the game with granites – not irons.

So obviously, I think it is important for not just young curlers but all Winnipeggers and all Manitobans to have the same feeling of awe and appreciation that I have for the nearly 150 year history of the Granite Curling Club when they drive by and especially when they walk into the grand old club building at 1 Granite Way in Winnipeg.

Admittedly, the building itself is ONLY 110+ years old but the club is such a central part of Manitoba’s great curling history. Soon after the club itself was created, Granite took the lead role (along with the Thistle) in forming the forerunner of the Manitoba Curling Association when five rural clubs were invited to a meeting for just that purpose. In the early 20^th century, it was a primary site for games in the annual Winnipeg bonspiel – deemed to be a sort of unofficial world championship of the time, attracting teams from as far away as Yukon, from the northern United States and occasionally even from Scotland. When Manitoba started its first Men’s Championship in 1925, it was played at the Granite. When the Brier was played outside Toronto for the first time (1940 in Winnipeg), it was a Granite team skipped by Howard Wood Sr. which represented Manitoba and won! Granite’s Ray Turnbull helped develop the first curling ‘how-to’ program, travelled the curling world teaching the sport and gets much of the credit for creating the first European World curling champions. When Manitoba won its first world championship, it was Granite’s Don Duguid team who were undefeated in 1970 and repeated, undefeated in 1971.

No question, that history will always exist whether or not the Granite CC building exists. However, it saddens me to think that the time may come, sooner than later, when the magnificent heritage which lies in the photos on the walls and the trophies in the showcases of that building will only be available in a Manitoba Curling Museum and not in the building where that history occurred.

I do not have the knowledge or wisdom to know what is right in the current debate about parking, affordable housing and the future of the club.

So yes, I am glad I am not one of the decisions makers on this.

Does the fate of the legendary club truly hang in the balance? I just don’t know how you make a decision which could add the iconic Granite building to the list of curling clubs which have disappeared in the last half century.

From the very first game that I ever played in the MCA bonspiel (in 1967 on sheet #2 at Granite against Bruce Hudson), I have played in every curling club in the city at one time or another. In addition to Granite, I have been a member of seven other clubs – four of them (Highlander, Wildewood, Transcona, Grain Exchange) all closed because their business model no longer worked.

I have played in many other clubs which no longer exist – West Kildonan, Victoria, CFB Westwin, CFB Fort Osborne, Strathcona, Civic Caledonian, Highlander, Thistle, Valour Road, Rossmere and Winter Club. All but Thistle, which burned down, closed because for various reasons, their volunteer board members believed their business model no longer worked. Winter Club and Rossmere, of course, still exist but their curling business model no longer worked. The second iteration of the Thistle, in the former Valour Road CC building, also closed because the business model no longer worked.

I do not know the Granite Curling Club’s business model particularly well. However, I do know that most curling club board members in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba face the fact daily that they are probably one major problem (like a broken down ice plant, a roof replacement or an irreversible drop in membership revenue) from having to debate the question – do we try to find the money or do we close the doors?.

At one time Winnipeg was unquestionably the “centre of the curling world”. That may no longer be the case; certainly other jurisdictions can make the argument that they now are.

That is as it may be. However, I will suggest this – if you offered any curler anywhere in the world an expenses paid trip to visit any curling club anywhere, the vast majority choice (perhaps the unanimous choice) would be Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club. It is that well known and that important around the world.

I will never argue against the importance of the proposed housing project. I just don’t envy the position that the decision makers are in – if their decision about a parking lot and a housing project truly could lead to the demise of all that history and heritage.

Once in my life I had the chance to play golf at the Old Course at St Andrews. I said at the time, if it wasn’t so special, you’d plow it up. The same might be said for the Granite Curling Club – it is just an old building, no reason not to knock it down. The simple fact is that the Granite Curling Club is special. The decisions which affect its future must be made with that specialness, with all of that history, in mind.

Steve Powell and Tim Atkin have visited some pretty exotic locations in recent years as they pursue a birthday plan of celebrating in new places and experiencing new things.

Last year the Fort Lauderdale, Florida residents visited London where the main attraction, among many, was a trip to a Brand Museum – no, not the kind of brand museum you might find in Texas or Alberta. Steve had recently retired after a career as a Trade Mark attorney – and the brand museum dealing with corporate brand names, trademarks, etc was a perfect destination.

In years before there were things like truffle hunting with dogs in Italy’s Piedmont region, learning glass-blowing in Hawaii and making their own cologne in Italy.

This year, a visit to Manitoba for the Canadian Human Rights Museum and a learn-to-curl trip to Morris (yesterday, May 28, Steve’s 60^th birthday).

Of course, a curling publication would like to suggest the curling was the primary objective of the trip – but no, that visit to Winnipeg’s Human Rights Museum has been the top of their ‘where-next’ list since they saw it on Amazing Race Canada.

A visit earlier in the week told them the museum trip truly merited top place on their list. They acknowledged they knew what to expect generally from the TV exposure – but not specifically and they described the current major exhibition, The LGBT Purge, as “an exceptional exhibit”. “So well done, we loved it,” Powell said.

The timing of the trip was set for Steve’s birthday but the coincidence of timing with Winnipeg’s Pride Festival has also allowed them to set a busy schedule.

The ‘what-else’ list has included curling for several years – exposed to it also on television both on the American version of Amazing Race and of course the Olympics, including the great visibility generated by John Shuster’s gold medal run in 2018.

So, when they learned that curling ice was available in Morris and that a coach-instructor was available in Rhonda Varnes, who has signed on for the summer as an on-call coach for the Cargill Curling Training Centre, their own amazing race took them down Highway #75 and onto sheet #1 at Morris.

“Until you try, you have no idea of the balance and the coordination that is required,” Powell said after an enjoyable 2-hour session on the ice.

Some slide-throw delivery attempts did not go particularly well. Powell suggested that the idea of the extra slippery slider didn’t make a lot of sense when the ice is already slippery enough.

Quick on her feet (two grippers please!) Coach Varnes was inspired by the fact that about 10 stick curlers, including 2024 Canadian champion Warren Johnson and 2022 Canadian champion Norm Magnusson, were using adjacent sheets for their weekly summer session.

Using the stick to facilitate the Florida ‘curlers’ deliveries, Coach Varnes talked with them about rotation and curl and release weight and all of the foreign language (to a visitor from Florida) which is spoken by curlers. She also explained how and why sweeping works (more foreign language – even to a lot of curlers).

By the end of their session, Powell called it “extraordinarily fun”. They were propelling their stones down the ice – often on the right line, often with the right weight, usually with the right turn and earning the satisfaction that goes with that stone stopping in the rings or that great feeling when you hear your stone crash against the opponent’s.

Powell and Atkin acknowledged that their time on the ice gave them a greater appreciation for the skill required for the game and for just how spectacular that Team Shuster gold medal win had been.

Are they ready to take up the sport full time? – maybe, but not an easy thing to do in Florida.

Are they interested in coming back to Morris for the stick bonspiel scheduled in early November – maybe, “but remind me when the cold weather comes,” Powell said with a big smile.

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VARNES PURSUING CURLING PRO ACCREDITATION

In one of her first assignments as the summer on-call coach/instructor for the Cargill Curling Training Centre in Morris, Rhonda Varnes learned what pro golf instructors know and what aspiring ACP’s (Accredited Curling Professional) will learn: most of the time, you’ll have no idea what challenges your day is going to bring you.

For example, no matter how prepared you are, there is really no way to prepare to teach curling to two guys from Florida whose only knowledge of the game is having watched it a few times on TV.

While they were complimentary of their first exposure to curling as being “extraordinarily fun”, Steve Powell and Tim Atkin were equally complimentary of Varnes’ talents as a teacher.

Recognized as one of Manitoba’s fine competitive women curlers (semi-finalist at the RME Women’s a year ago with Darcy Robertson) and an excellent thrower of the stone, Varnes quickly figured out that teaching them to throw a stone was not going to work. A good teacher adapts and teaching them to deliver a stone with a delivery stick allowed them to learn the game and some of its nuances in the limited time available.

Varnes is one of the first in Manitoba to pursue certification as an Accredited Curling Professional. She’ll be doing a series of on-line courses in June/July, travelling to Oakville, ON for in-person work in August, more course work over the winter all targeting completion of the certification requirements by April.

Meantime, she’ll be working as an on-call coach-instructor at the Cargill Curling Training Centre this summer. She will be available to work with individuals and even teams who want to improve their skills, whether at a competitive level or a more intermediate level.

“I can’t think of anything more satisfying than helping curlers, whatever level they are at, elevate their game. Helping grow their enjoyment of the game is very satisfying,” she said.

Current plans are for the ice in Morris to be available all summer. Curlers with an interest in a single session or a series of sessions are encouraged to contact club Manager Steph Berard (manager@morriscurlingclub.com). If you are interested in using Rhonda Varne’s coach/instructor services, Steph will put you in direct contact for further planning.

The Bob Picken Open Masters Bonspiel presented by Access Credit Union, the season-opener Masters bonspiel, will move to a new host club for the 2025 bonspiel. The event has awarded $9,000 in Junior Development grants to Manitoba curling club junior programs over the last six years.

The event will be hosted by the East St. Paul Curling Club and will once again be played in late September (Sept. 23-26, 2025)

“We are hopeful to start the season again at the Bob Picken Open Masters,” says 2025 Canadian Masters champion skip Randy Neufeld. “It was a great way to start the season a year ago. It gave us five competitive games but a relaxed schedule to get started.”

Neufeld says he is always excited by the start of a new curling season. The Picken Open Masters provides an early start and an early opportunity to renew friendships and rivalries along with the added benefit of raising funds to support junior curling development.

The bonspiel will once again offer a CurlManitoba Masters Men’s championship entry for the Manitoba’s Credit Unions Masters to be played in Brandon in February of 2026. While they are planning to participate in the bonspiel, Neufeld’s Manitoba/Canadian champions will not be competing for the provincial berth as they have an automatic entry in Brandon as the 2025 champions.

The bonspiel format will be unchanged from 2025, featuring:

• A maximum of 24 Men’s, Women’s or Mixed teams, with stick curlers welcome
• Four team pools with a three-game round-robin
• One game a day for the round-robin with a choice of playing on the morning OR afternoon draw (tentatively 9:30AM and 1:30PM)
• A championship playoff with two games (for finalists) to be played on the Friday.
• A separate four-team women’s playoff if there are minimum of four women’s team entries.

Entries will open about mid-August, 2025.

A successful 2024 bonspiel, with the support of CurlManitoba and Access Credit Union, allowed the committee to make six $500 Bob Picken Junior Legacy grants to support junior curling programs across Manitoba. The recipient clubs included Altona, East St. Paul, Ste. Anne, St. Vital and Teulon.  The sixth successful application was coordinated by the Swan River Curling Club on behalf of the Sliding Stars North junior program.

Beginning in 2019, the bonspiel made $1,500 in junior grants annually (with 2020 missed due to the pandemic). Recipient clubs included:
2023: Winkler, Elmwood, Portage
2022: Carman, Swan River, Westman Development League (Virden)
2021: Interlake Junior Inter-Club League (East St. Paul, Selkirk, Stonewall), Bob Picken Inter-Club Youth League (Pembina, Elmwood, La Salle, Fort Garry, Assiniboine Memorial)
2019: Oakville, Riverview, Thistle

The organizing committee expresses sincere appreciation to the Granite Curling Club for its support and sponsorship of the Picken Open Masters Bonspiel in the years after the bonspiel had to move from Bob Poicken’s home club at Valour Road/Thistle.

The committee is delighted by the move of the one and only BOBSPIEL to CURL ESP, home of one of the most vibrant Masters curling programs in the province, and looks forward to continuing the Bob Picken Junior Legacy grants program. Clubs will be informed of application procedures when next curling season begins.

CurlManitoba has announced a change of dates for the 2026 RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

The Manitoba women’s championship will now be played December 30, 2025 to January 4, 2026. The venue, Riverdale Community Centre in Rivers, is unchanged.

“We very much appreciate the co-operation of the Rivers host committee and the Riverdale Community Centre in making the change,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker.

“The previously announced dates in early January were the best fit in the Grand Slam of Curling’s plans to bring the AMJ Players’ Championship to Steinbach’s new Southeast Event Centre – recently announced for January 6-11, 2026,” said Baker. “The change of dates for the Manitoba Women’s championship event made sense in order to ensure Manitoba curling fans can support their favorite local teams in Rivers and their favorite international teams in Steinbach.”

Curling fans are excited to see the new Southeast Event Centre turned into a curling venue and anticipate the possibility of it hosting future provincial and even national/international championships.

In a year of transition, this year’s Pat Spiring Awards will be presented May 3, 2025 to Jay Kinnaird (Virden) and Kim Link (East St. Paul). The presentations will be a highlight of the annual Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame Induction Dinner presented by Wellington-Altus.

Presented initially at the Viterra championship to the competitor who “shows competitive spirit, love of the game, respect for the tradition and spirit of the sport of curling and on ice curling ability”, consultation with the Spiring family and the dinner’s presenting sponsor, Wellington-Altus, and CurlManitoba has resulted in a transition of the award to become one which is available to both men and women. It also transitions to recognize leadership in the sport of curling along with the sportsmanship, competitive spirit and respect for the traditions of the game which Pat Spiring embodied.

The nominations of several worthy candidates received from curling clubs across the province presented a challenge for the selection committee and the two recipients are exceptional examples of the quality of nominees.

This year’s Pat Spiring Award honourees, Jay Kinnaird (Virden) and Kim Link (East St. Paul) both skipped teams at this season’s Seagram’s Whisky Club Championships, continuing their competitive careers at the same time as their primary focus is club leadership. In the recent past, Link has been a regular competitor at the Senior Women’s level as well, winning Manitoba in 2021 and competing for the third time at the Canadian Seniors in 2022. Kinnaird continues to compete at the men’s level, qualifying as recently as 2023 for the Viterra Championship.

Both Spiring Award recipients have a history of dedicated service, notably as the leader of major events hosted by their respective clubs along with their volunteer board and committee commitments.

Kinnaird was co-chair of the 2019 Viterra Championship in Virden and most recently was a leading force behind the Virden CC’s 125th Annual Bonspiel — an ambitious and successful event that brought together over 120 teams (men, women, mixed teams of all ages) utilizing the local curling club and ice in their arena. His nomination notes “for the past 10+ years, Jay has been a driving force at the grassroots level, serving on the board of our local curling club and contributing to the growth and strength of the curling community – he loves curling and is a skilled competitor and one of the best at bringing the community together at the rink. His ability to balance competitive drive with respect for opponents and officials reflects the core values that the Pat Spiring Award seeks to honor.”

Link was co-chair of East St. Paul’s provincial Scotties in 2023 and before that was involved with organizing other provincial championships including Mixed Provincials, Senior Provincials and another Scotties. Those are the showcase events. Less visible but equally (or more) significant is the leadership provided in 25+ years on the club’s Board of Directors including two terms as President, multiple years as Treasurer, and a valued role as mentor/adviser to new Board members. Her nomination notes “Kim values the curling tradition of sportsmanship and while she plays to win, she does it with respect for her opponent and the rules of the game – the true spirit of the game, the fun and comradery, is what keeps her coming back year after year. Winning is icing on the cake but her true motivation is the love for a game that is steeped in tradition and forms lifetime friendships.”

“CurlManitoba is honoured to participate in this recognition of two skilled competitors who exemplify all that is great about our sport – competitiveness, sportsmanship, respect for opponents and for the traditions of the game. We have deep appreciation for the fact that they have taken on such a strong local leadership role at the same time as they continue to compete at a very high level,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker.

The Pat Spiring Awards will be presented May 3, 2025 at the Victoria Inn, Winnipeg as a feature of the annual Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame Induction Dinner presented by Wellington-Altus.

Friends, family and curling fans wishing to celebrate with the recipients and with 2025 Hall of Fame inductees can still purchase tickets – the advance ticket price of $115 has been extended to April 15. The deadline for ticket purchase is April 24.

Purchase tickets on-line:

ADULT ($115)  https://mb.curling.io/en/products/9138-manitoba-curling-hall-of-fame-fundraising-dinner-ticket-adult

CHILD ($35)  https://mb.curling.io/en/products/9139-manitoba-curling-hall-of-fame-induction-fundraising-dinner-ticket-child

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The 2025 Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame inductees include:

• BUILDER: Darren Oryniak
• CURLER: Dan Carey
• CURLER: Dawn McEwen
• CURLER: Raunora Westcott
• TEAM: Mike McEwen, BJ Neufeld, Matt Wozniak, Denni Neufeld, Coach Chris Neufeld
• TEAM: Randy Neufeld, Dean Moxham, Peter Nicholls, Dale Michie
• TEAM: Ron Westcott, Ken Dusablon, Bob Boughey, Howard Restall

Randy Neufeld and his LaSalle team (Dean Moxham, Peter Nicholls, Dale Michie, Larry Borus) have won the Canadian Masters championship with a 5-4 victory over former champion Mickey Prendergast and his Alberta team.

It is Manitoba’s first Masters title since Ron Westcott and his team won the 2015 title.

(Curling Canada Release) An iconic curling facility with more than 110 years of history will play host to the 2025 Canadian Curling Club Championships, it was announced today by Curling Canada.

The event will be played Nov. 18-23 at Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club, which opened its doors in 1913 and is popularly known as The Mother Club for Curling in Winnipeg.

“It’s truly fitting that a club with as much history as the Granite Curling Club gets the opportunity to host one of our most popular and meaningful events,” said Nolan Thiessen, Chief Executive Officer of Curling Canada. “The Canadian Curling Club Championships give opportunities to grassroots curlers across Canada to enjoy a national championship experience, and they’ll have a truly special setting in 2025 at the Mother Club in Winnipeg.”

Women’s and men’s champions from Curling Canada’s 14 Member Associations will be competing in Winnipeg in the 16th edition of the Canadian Curling Championships.

While the Granite Club building was opened in 1913, the club itself had already been in existence for three decades.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the 2025 Canadian Curling Club Championship to the Curling Capital of the World,” said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. “This city lives and breathes the game, and I know Winnipeggers will give curlers from across Canada a warm and enthusiastic welcome.”

It will be the second time Winnipeg has hosted the Canadian Curling Club Championships. In 2023 at the Assiniboine Memorial Club, New Brunswick’s Team Abby Burgess (Oromocto) won the women’s title while Alberta’s Team Dan Sherrard (Beaumont) claimed the men’s championship.

In the history of the Canadian Curling Club Championships, Manitoba has won a leading four women’s titles, including Team Meghan Armit from the Granite Club winning in 2011 at Richmond, B.C.

Alberta and Ontario teams have each won three women’s titles.

On the men’s side, Manitoba is still seeking its first Canadian Curling Club Championship. Ontario leads the way with five men’s titles, followed closely by Alberta with four.

“The Granite Curling Club is excited for the opportunity to host the 2025 Canadian Curling Club Championships,” said Host Committee Chair Warren Reimer. “The ‘Mother Club’, founded in Winnipeg in 1880, is the traditional centre of excellence promoting the sport of curling in a positive friendly atmosphere for all ages and abilities. The Tudor-framed clubhouse, with its arching rink to the rear, is the province’s oldest curling institution and one of the oldest sporting groups in the province, and is now considered a Heritage Building by the City of Winnipeg. We look forward to welcoming curlers and fans from across the country to spend a week in our city and our beautiful curling club.”

At the 2024 Canadian Curling Club Championships in Barrie, Ont., Nova Scotia’s Team Michelle Armstrong (Lower Sackville) and Ontario’s Team Jordan Keon (Richmond Hill) were crowned women’s and men’s national champions.

“We’re excited to be welcoming the Canadian Curling Club Championships back to Manitoba in 2025 and I know the Granite Club will do a superb job,” said Craig Baker, Executive Director of CurlManitoba. “There is a dedicated group of volunteers who will be working tirelessly to make the event memorable for curlers and fans alike at our most historic club.”