(UPDATE: 10PM,20-01-25) Ryan Hyde and his team accomplished three different things Monday evening at Assiniboine Memorial. They had already won the Viterra berth that they had set out to win – a chance to play at home in the 100th Manitoba Men’s championship event. So that’s not one of tonight’s three.

Pick whichever order you want as the more important of these three.

1) They won the Manitoba Open Bonspiel’s Asham event – the undefeated Bonspiel champion.

2) They avoided losing the final game to Scott Moncur’s team from Canmore, AB – and thereby avoided being beaten by what would have been the first bonspiel champion from Alberta in the history of the event which began in 1889.

3) They became only the third team from Portage to win the bonspiel championship in the 137-year history of the bonspiel.

So Ryan Hyde, Kenneth Keeler, Hartley Vanstone, Trevor Munro,and Eric Leduc join 1973 champion Jack Wolfe and his team (Ken Wolfe, Terry Owens, Don Thompson) and the 1989 Don Spriggs team (Kelly Collett, Garry Wright, Clarke Munro) as the only MCA/Manitoba Open bonspiel champions from Portage.

Check the CurlManitoba website for all of the event winners from the Manitoba Open, the Half Spiel,and the New Curlers Fun Spiel.

(UPDATE: 4PM, 20-01-25) HYDE, MAHON, DUNSTONE WIN THE VITERRA BERTHS: Ryan Hyde and his Portage team (Kenneth Keeler, Hartley Vanstone, Trevor Munro, Eric Leduc), Dean Dunstone – Granite (Greg Melnichuk, Al Purdy, Paul Janssen, Scott Kidd), and Mike Mahon – Granite (Blair Smith, Kyle Halford, and a player to be named later) have won the three Viterra berths available in the Manitoba Open bonspiel.

Hyde will play for the bonspiel championship in the Asham event final tonight at Fort Garry against Scott Moncur and a team from Canmore, Alberta. Of note is the fact that going back to the first bonspiel in 1889, there has never been a Grand Aggregate or (more recently) a bonspiel championship winner from Alberta.

Dunstone will also be on the ice at Fort Garry, playing the Tyler Drews Fort Rouge entry in the final of the Original 16 event.

Mahon, who played the entire bonspiel with three players, bowed out in the semis of the Nott Autocorp event but were the most advanced eligible team. They will add a fourth eligible player and the three must compete in Portage to maintain team eligibility.

There will be five event finals at Fort Garry and six at Assiniboine Memorial at 7PM Monday evening.

(11PM, 19-01-25) SO WHO WINS THE VITERRA BERTHS?? Please note: nothing here is OFFICIAL – it is just my best guesses.

The CurlManitoba website is updated to include all results except (obviously) the 9pm Sunday draw – on the ice at time of writing. Based on that ……..

ASHAM MAIN EVENT: Ryan Hyde and his Portage team appear to have won the ASHAM EVENT entry into the Viterra Championship, giving the Portage host committee a home team for their event. The Hyde foursome will play Scott Moncur and his Canmore, AB team for the bonspiel championship Monday evening. Since the Albertans are ineligible, I believe the Hyde team earns the berth, win or lose in the final.

In the other two berth events, the eight semi-finalists include (I believe) seven ineligible teams. Unless I am wrong on some of my assumptions – that means a berth playoff is going to be required.

ORIGINAL 16: Corey Chambers vs Tyler Drews and Jacques Gauthier vs Dean Dunstone. The Gauthier team is in the Viterra already, Chambers is on the Sean Grassie Viterra entry and the Drews team has 2 players already in the Viterra, so all three are ineligible. I believe the Dunstone line-up may include players who are members of different clubs and therefore ineligible (but I stress this is very unofficial, pending formal clarification of membership status).

NOTT AUTOCORP: Graham McFarlane vs Tim Friesen and Shawn Rojeski vs Mike Mahon. McFarlane is already in the Viterra so his team is ineligible and Rojeski is from Hibbing, MN so also ineligible. I believe the Friesen line-up may include players who are members of different clubs and therefore ineligible (again I stress this is very unofficial, pending formal clarification of membership status). The fourth team, Mike Mahon’s group have been playing with three all weekend but I believe they are eligible.

So what all this means (if my guesses on eligibility are correct) is that one berth winner for sure (Hyde) and one berth winner maybe (Mahon) have been identified. The third is probably going to come out of a playoff – but which teams that playoff will involve, I won’t even try to guess.

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FOLLOWING IS THE CURLMANITOBA BERTH ALLOCATION DOCUMENT FROM THE CURLMANITOBA WEBSITE

VITERRA CHAMPONSHIP BERTH ALLOCATION
MANITOBA OPEN
ASHAM EVENT: First Berth
<> The winner of the ASHAM event will be awarded one berth if eligible.
<> If the ASHAM winner is not eligible the berth will go to the Finalist.
<> In the ASHAM event there is no count back prior to the finals as all teams drop to either the Original 16 or Nott Autocorp Events.

ORIGINAL 16 and NOTT AUTOCORP EVENTS: Second and Third berths
If the Asham Event winner is awarded the berth there are 2 remaining berths for 3 teams.
<> Asham Finalist
<> Original 16 Winner
<> Nott Autocorp Winner
These 3 teams will playoff for 2 berths if all 3 teams are eligible.

1. If one of the teams, Asham finalist, Original 16 winner OR Nott Autocorp winner, are
   ineligible, the berths will be awarded to the remaining two teams.
2. If two of the teams, Asham finalist, Original 16 winner and the Nott Autocorp winner, are
   ineligible one berth will be awarded to the remaining team.
   <> The final berth will be determined on a countback and playoff game (s) within the Original
   16 and Nott Autocorp Events at the same level.
   <> The playoff game will be determined by CurlManitoba immediately and the teams will be
   contacted.

Sometime about 10 o’clock this morning (Tuesday, January 7, 2025), Clayton Dreger will sign off for the last time as Sports Director at Goldenwest Radio.

For exactly forty years, Clayton has been telling the local sports story for the listeners on the Goldenwest Manitoba network from his studio in the Altona radio station….and exactly 40 years, means EXACTLY 40 years. Dreger has chosen to end his broadcast career 40 years TO THE DAY from when he started his career at the same radio station.

He has stayed at Goldenwest for his entire career and became known (and respected) for putting local sports above the higher profile, professional sports. His listeners always knew they could count on him to tell the story of the local high school teams, the local community hockey-baseball-curling teams.

He might tell you what happened with the Jets or the Bombers but only if he didn’t run out of time talking about local sports.

And curling got more than its share of attention.  Local bonspiel results, local super-league results, provincial championships as far afield as Thompson but always first telling the story of how the local teams were doing. Occasionally the local curlers would reach the pinnacle and he had the opportunity to lead his sportscasts with those local success stories: Altona’s Harold Sawatzky and his team making their phenomenal run to the Manitoba Men’s curling championship final before losing to Vic Peters (another popular Goldenwest market area name), Altona’s Mackenzie Zacharias skipping her team to Manitoba, Canadian and World junior titles, and just this week Morden’s Nash Sugden winning the U-18 championship.

What could be more fitting in the retirement story of a dedicated community sports broadcaster than for his last curling championship interview to be conducted in a community curling club in the heart of his broadcast territory and for his last interview with a Manitoba champion to be with a youth curler from that very same region?

Best wishes to Clayton Dreger in a well-earned retirement – and THANK YOU from the Manitoba curling community!

Twenty-four teams, 12 Men & 12 Women, assembled at Fort Rouge CC this weekend to contest the Manitoba Curling Tour Championship.

Beth Peterson took on Sarah-Jane Sass in the Sunday afternoon Women’s final. Peterson (Kelsey Roque, Katherine Doerksen, Melissa Kurz) controlled the game but Sass (Katie Lukowich, Mackenzie Arbuckle, Julian Milan) stole on the sixth to make it interesting, down 6-4 with 2 to play.  The game ended after seven ends when Peterson put a three on the board for a 9-4 final score.

To reach the final, Peterson beat Lisa McLeod 7-0 in the semifinal while Sass needed an extra end to oust Holly Duncan (Woodstock, ON)

Braden Calvert (Corey Chambers, Kyle Kurz, Robbie Gordon-sparing for Brendan Bilawka)  won the Sunday afternoon Manitoba Curling Tour Championship Men’s final with a last rock draw to the button to score a pair for a 7-6 win over the Jordan Peters team (skipped by Adam Flatt with  Sean Flatt, Emerson Klimpke, and Ryan Wiebe subbing for Peters).

Calvert led 3-0 after 1 end and 5-1 after 3 but trailed 6-5 coming home after a deuce, a steal of two and a steal of 1 by the Flatt-skipped team. On the final end, Flatt had second shot in the four foot circle forcing the need for Calvert to be perfect on his last.

In the semifinals, Team Flatt/Peters defeated Brett Walter 5-4 with a steal coming home while Calvert beat Sean Grassie, tied 5-5 coming home.

All four semi finalist teams will be playing in the Viterra Championship in Portage in early February.

(UPDATED) The winners of the Viterra berths in regional playdowns across Manitoba provide an interesting combination of first time excitement and veteran experience – and that is just on the Mark Franklin entry from Granite.

Franklin played his first Manitoba men’s championship in 1974 when it was still called the British Consols. The team lead, Gary Gumprich, is the same age as Franklin but never qualified for the Consols. He never qualified for the Labatt Tankard either – or the Safeway Select – or the Safeway Championship. Correct! Past his 70th birthday, Gumprich will play in his first ever Manitoba Men’s as a Viterra Championship rookie in Portage in February. Robin Nelson skipped the team with Franklin throwing third and Denis Lavallee is the second.

The team willingly acknowledges they “may not be” contenders for the championship!

One Winnipeg berth winner which has the credentials to be a contender (and they played like it in the regional playoff) is the Jacques Gauthier (West St. Paul) team. A last minute regional entry, with Derek Samagalski and Tanner Lott, the Gauthier threesome played like a team wanting to prove something. Having now won the berth, the team will be recruiting a fourth to replace Ron Gauthier at lead. The elder Gauthier was an enthusiastic front row supporter with no intention of throwing a stone – but his experience might have him on the final roster as coach or alternate!

The other four Winnipeg berth winners were Thomas McGillivary (St. Vital), Devon Wiebe (Charleswood), Hayden Forrester (Ft Rouge), and Daniel Birchard (Pembina).

Across Manitoba, the regional berth winners were:
<> Justin Richter (Beausejour)
<> Cale Dunbar (Brandon)
<> Steve Irwin (Brandon)
<> Kelly Marnoch (Carberry)
<> Greg Todoruk (Dauphin)
<> Jeff Stewart  (Gladstone)
<> Travis Gregory (Hamiota)
<> Jeremy Sundell (Holland)
<> Ryan Thomson (Morden)
<> Marcus Titchkosky (Morden)
<> Sean Boyle (Neepawa)
<> Stefan Gudmundson (Steinbach)

Pre-qualified for the Viterra Championship in Portage, and therefore not needing to play in regionals were:
<> Jordon McDonald (Assiniboine Memorial)
<> Brett Walter (Assiniboine Memorial)
<> Riley Smith (Charleswood)
<> Brayden Calvert (Ft Rouge)
<> Jordan Peters (Ft Rouge)
<> Reid Carruthers (Granite)
<> Ryan Ostrowsky (Granite)
<> Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge)

The Northern Regional Berth was awarded to Grant Brown’s Biurntwood team. Yet to be determined are berth winners in the Virden MCT Spiel (1 berth), Brandon Men’s (1 berth), Manitoba Open (3 berths)

ONLY ONE RME WOMEN’S BERTH YET TO BE DETERMINED

Regional Playoffs added 5 teams to the list of teams qualified to play in the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH. One regional berth winner is still to be determined. There will be no north region rep this year as there were no entries by deadline.

Winnipeg regional berths were won by:
<> Kristy Watling (East. St Paul)
<> Cassidy Dundas (Heather)
<> Rachel Kaatz (Assiniboine Memorial)

Rural regional berths were won by
<> Cheyenne Ehnes (Manitou)
<> Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa)

Pre-qualified teams for the championship in Pilot Mound include:
<> Kate Cameron
<> Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial)
<> Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial)
<> Lane Prokopowich (Granite)
<> Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite)
<> Lisa McLeod (Pembina)

The Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame & Museum’s major annual fund-raiser, a repeat of last year’s Manitoba Sports Tickets Raffle but with enhanced prizes, has been launched. Tickets can be purchased online at raffle.link/mbcurlmuseum

Main prizes in the draw include tickets for this season’s World Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, SK along with Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Winnipeg Goldeyes tickets as well as four dinners and an evening of racing at Assiniboia Downs .

The raffle’s early bird draw date is December 17, 2024 with tickets for the 2025 RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH (in Pilot Mound) and the 2025 Viterra Championship (in Portage la Prairie) available. Winner’s names will go back in the draw for the main prizes which will be drawn on March 2, 2025.

Early bird prize details:

• Two event passes Viterra Championship – Portage (four draws)
• Two event passes RME Women of the Rings – Pilot Mound (one draw)

Main draw prize details:

• Two full event passes World Curling Championship – Moose Jaw plus $500 (one draw)
• Two tickets Winnipeg Jets vs Vancouver Canucks – March 30, Canada Life Centre (one draw)
• Two tickets 2025 Winnipeg Blue Bombers first regular season home game (one draw)
• Four tickets 2025 Winnipeg Goldeyes any regular season home game (one draw)
• Race Day Dinner for Four Assiniboia Downs any 2025 race day (one draw)
• Two Manitoba Curling Championships 2025-26 All-events passes (two draws)

Tickets Sales are online only with tickets priced at 1 for $5.00, 3 for $10.00, 10 for $25.00, 40 for $50.00  (License #LGCA4051-RF-45738).

Purchase at  raffle.link/mbcurlmuseum – and THANK YOU! for your support.

(Curling Canada – CurlManitoba News Release) CurlManitoba, in partnership with Curling Canada and key stakeholders, has unveiled the Regional Performance Hub & Development Centre at the Heather Curling Club in Winnipeg.

This new initiative provides Manitoba’s high-performance and emerging curlers with access to championship-quality training resources, marking a significant investment in the future of curling in the region. This project is the result of a partnership between Curling Canada, CurlManitoba, the Government of Manitoba, Sport Manitoba, and the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba.

“This facility is transforming how Manitoba curlers train and prepare for competition,” said Craig Baker, Executive Director of CurlManitoba. “With dedicated championship-quality ice and all-day access to the facility, our athletes are better equipped to compete and win on the national and world stages.”

The Winnipeg hub features two dedicated sheets of world-class ice equipped with advanced tools, including video analysis, speed traps, smart brooms that provide performance data, and championship-calibre rocks. These resources are tailored to meet the training needs of Manitoba’s National Team Program (NTP) athletes, NextGen curlers, and other elite competitors from the area.

“We know Manitoba hosts some of the best curlers in the world, and we’re excited to be able to support this transformative project to continue to support our world-class athletes,” said Nellie Kennedy, Minister of Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism. “Curling isn’t just a sport in Manitoba, but a point of provincial pride. We look forward to how this new centre will help Manitobans celebrate their skills and allow them to reach new heights, and new records, in curling.” 

Designed for maximum accessibility, the two training sheets are available to high-performance curlers, while the club’s six additional sheets host recreational leagues. High-performance teams, including Team Chelsea Carey, Team Matt Dunstone,  Team Kerri Einarson, Team Kaitlyn Lawes, Mike McEwen of Team McEwen, Dennis Thiessen of the National Wheelchair Curling Program, and NextGen teams such as Team Arbuckle/Macdonell, Team Kate Cameron and Team Jordon McDonald are already benefitting from the facility.

The ice is maintained by a team led by chief ice technician Greg Ewasko.

“Having dedicated practice ice at the Heather is essential in improving all aspects of our game. The amazing ice conditions Greg and his team have created allow us to focus on consistent throws, which helps build the confidence needed to compete at the highest level. We’ve needed a facility like this in Manitoba for a long time, and I am so excited that we finally have it,” said Team Lawes vice-skip, Selena Njegovan.

Launching this centre is the first step in accomplishing one of the first major initiatives of Curling Canada’s Director of High Performance, David Murdoch, who joined the National Sports Organization at the end of the 2022-23 season.

With the trend of international curlers becoming full-time athletes noticeably increasing, so, too, does the need for Canadian high-performance and NextGen curlers to have access to high-quality ice conditions, stones, equipment, and coaching.

The development of high-performance Canadian curling teams is hindered by Canada’s vast geography, making centralized training challenging. This new regional training model serves as what Curling Canada expects to be a blueprint for similar facilities in other Member Association regions across Canada. With access to a dedicated sheet of ice, training to maintain it and some additional equipment, this blueprint can be implemented in facilities across the country.

“The demands of international competition now require athletes to train daily with high-quality ice, coaching and advanced technology. Canadian curlers are disadvantaged simply because of geography and access to training because they often require significant travel,” said Murdoch. “As these demands increase, we must find new and innovative ways to provide them with consistent access to the best training environments possible. I’m thankful for the collaboration of our partners to make this new training centre a reality and I’m optimistic about what it means for the development of our sport.”

The centres align with Curling Canada’s strategic vision to establish a nationwide network that maximizes the use of existing facilities while enhancing them to meet the daily training environment standards essential for success. Curling Canada also aims to support the development of curlers by fostering coaching expertise and creating clear pathways for young athletes to progress to the elite level.

Curling Canada plans to expand the Regional Performance Hub network to establish similar centres nationwide in the coming years. This initiative is part of Curling Canada’s commitment to ensuring that Canada remains a leader in the sport while fostering the next generation of champions.

From elite level international competitors and the best of Manitoba’s competitive teams, to the best of our club-level teams and the regular club players, Manitoba’s curling clubs were filled with action this past weekend.

O’GRADY CUP: Fort Garry Over Ste Anne at home

A week ago, the Ste. Anne Curling Club won its first ever match in the century old competition which weekly brings club curlers together for comradeship, competition, and hospitality.

Ste. Anne had never entered the competition before winning a week ago so they brought their “only currently undefeated team” record to Fort Garry Sunday afternoon to meet their challengers. It was a special occasion at Fort Garry as the O’Grady Cup Trustees (Ron Margolis, Rod MacKay, Don Stewart) paid tribute to long-time trustee Ron Lloyd, the Fort Garry club member who had helped organize the friendly inter-club competition for thirty years. A special tribute plaque was presented to the Fort Garry as well as to Ron’s three daughters.

While Sunday was only Ste. Anne’s second match in the O’Grady, FGCC’s first match was in 1930 when they visited Oakville and after 14 ends of play, won by a two-game total score of 25-19. Overall. FGCC has played in 76 games, and a total of 156 members have curled in the O’Grady prior to Sunday.

The Ste. Anne unbeaten record ended at one match. The two game total was 13-13 after seven ends but FGCC outscored SACC 4-1 in the 8th, for a 17-14 victory.

The records show that over 8,400 different curlers have participated in the O’Grady in the 116 years of its existence. Portage (364 curlers) has the most with two other clubs over 300. Glenboro has played in 172 of the 1630 matches, with 3 other clubs over 100.

DEKALB SUPERSPIEL: CALVERT, KANG TAKE TITLES

At the other end of the competitive scale, three of the four finalists in the men’s division of the annual DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris were teams aspiring to represent Manitoba at this year’s Brier.

Jordon McDonald and his crew went undefeated to the semi-final but couldn’t get past Braden Calvert who drew the four foot facing two to win their game. Brett Walter bested Timothy Hodek (North Dakota) in the other semi-final.

The Calvert foursome went on to beat Walter in a game which might have been settled when Calvert scored three on the opening end. Walter fought back with a deuce and they traded deuces after that. Walter was never able to score that extra point needed to draw even. In the end, two more for Calvert on the seventh gave his team an insurmountable 7-4 lead coming home.

The women’s semi-finals were an international affair with Kristy Watling the only Manitoba team to advance that far. The 2018 Olympic Silver medal Kim team from Korea bested Japan’s Kitazawa foursome while Watling lost to Korea’s junior championship hopefuls in the other semi-final. The final was won by the junior Kang team over Kim.

The two champion teams earned $10,000 cheques.

SEAGRAM’S CLUB CHAMPIONS REGIONALS

Regional playoffs around the province this weekend identified 22 teams (11 men, 11 women) to compete in the Seagram’s Whisky Provincials (April 3-6, 2025 at St. Vital). As host club, St. Vital has an automatic host club berth in each championship.

The regional winners include several past champions.
WOMEN: Stacey Irwin-Brandon (2010-2013-2017), Kara Balshaw -Ft Rouge (2023)
MEN: Andrew Wickman-Ft Rouge (2016-2018-2020), Mark Anderson-Riverview (2017), Derrick Anderson-Gimli (2023)

The other regional winners include:
Women: Sheri Horning-Burntwood, Kim Link-East St. Paul, Patti Ulrich & Lisa Dickson-St. Vital, Heather Bartmanovich-Dauphin, Jennifer Clarke-Rouire & Carlene Strand-Ft Garry, Norma Purdy-AMCC, and Karen Sheldon-Granite.

Men: Grant Brown-Burntwood, Jay Kinnaird-Virden, Mark Lowdon-LaSalle, Tanner Lott-Selkirk, Ryan Hyde-Portage, Butch Mouck-Gilbert Plains, Daniel Birchard-Pembina, and Jesse McCullough-Ft Garry.

Meanwhile the Canadian 2024 Club Champions event also took place in the past week. Manitoba’s two teams both earned medals, although neither took gold. The Zach Wasylik team lost the final x to earn silver while Deb McCreanor’s foursome brought home the bronze medal