(December 14, 2021) CurlManitoba has announced plans to expand remote access to championship curling entertainment next week from the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer.

As in the past, nation-wide television coverage will be provided by Sportsnet for the semi-final at 10AM and the final at 4PM on Sunday, December 19.

In addition, plans are in place for livestreaming of at least a dozen games from the Carberry Plains Community Centre. The livestreaming, sponsored by Sunrise Credit Union and Rocky Mountain Equipment, will include a featured game on all but one of the round-robin draws plus all of the championship round draws daily Wednesday, December 15 through Saturday, December 18.

Only the 8PM draw on Wednesday evening will not be in the live-streaming program. If the
scheduled Saturday evening tiebreaker game is required, it will also be livestreamed.

“Make no mistake, we very much want lots of people in the arena,” says CurlManitoba
Executive Director Craig Baker. “Large crowds are an important part of the experience for teams going on from Manitoba championships. We think the experience of playing in front of the large, enthusiastic crowds who come to our arena championships may be worth a win or even two to a new Manitoba team going the national Scotties.”

However, Baker goes on to acknowledge that friends, fans, and family cannot always be in the arena to support their team.

“We know that the distances involved in Manitoba travel are a factor and one of the services
which CurlManitoba can provide our member clubs and their members is to make it possible to follow favourite teams remotely by way of the livestreaming option,” Baker says.

All 12 teams in the competition will be featured in a livestreamed game at least once during the week. Many will be featured twice and a few more often based on the number of times they play on the sheet of ice set up with the required cameras.

The games will be available beginning at 8:30AM, Wednesday, December 15 at the
CurlManitoba You Tube channel or at curlmanitoba.org.

Later this season, curling fans can also look forward to watching livestream games from the
Viterra Men’s Championship in Selkirk and the Telus Juniors in Brandon.

(Updated: December 8, 9PM) Team Fleury Top Seed in Manitoba Scotties .. Tracey Fleury’s season with her East St. Paul team of Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe, and Kristin McCuish has made them the #1 seed in this year’s CurlManitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer.

The honour is determined by a consensus vote of the other competitors in the event
with consideration as well for the team’s CTRS ranking.

“Coming off a great week at the Canadian Curling Trials, and being ranked number one
on both the Canadian (CTRS) and World Curling Federation team rankings, obviously
Team Fleury was going to be seeded number by the other teams,” says CurlManitoba
Executive Director Craig Baker. “With both Team Canada Kerri Einarson and Olympic
Team Jennifer Jones absent from the event, the suspense was always going to be
around who would be the rest of the top five seeds.”

The rest of the Scotties top five seeds are:
#2 SEED: Mackenzie Zacharias (Altona), Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias, Lauren Lenentine, Coach Sheldon Zacharias: Currently CTRS #10 & WCF #20
#3 SEED: Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), Jenna Loder, Katherine Doerksen, Melissa Gordon: Currently CTRS #24 and WCF #28
#4 SEED: #4 Seed: Kristy Watling (Assiniboine Memorial team (Hailey Ryan, Emilie Rafnson, Sarah Pyke, Coach Jim Watling): Currently CTRS #17 and WCF #45
#5 SEED: Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial), Laura Burtnyk, Gaetanne Gauthier, Krysten Karwacki: Currently CTRS #34 and WCF #42
#6: SEED: Kaitlyn Jones (Assiniboine Memorial), Robyn Kjegovan, Abby Ackland, Sara Oliver, Coach Howard Restall: Currently CTRS #26 and WCF #48

The Manitoba Women’s Championship will be played at the Carberry Plains Community
Centre in Carberry, December 14-19.

“We look forward to hosting Manitoba’s best women curlers,” says Host Committee
Chair Rob Van Kommer. “Carberry was one of the clubs which met in December of
1888 to form the original curling association in this province. Now 133 years later, we
are proud to be added to the list of communities which have hosted CurlManitoba’s
arena championship events.”

Van Kommer adds “our community is excited by this opportunity and our volunteers are
ready and able to create a very memorable event for both the curlers and their fans.”

“On behalf of Kruger Products and our parent company Kruger Inc., I’d like to extend a
warm welcome to kick off the 2022 Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in
Carberry, says Rynie Nachtigall, Business Development Manager, Western Canada,
Kruger Products. “We’ve been proudly sponsoring Women’s curling for over 40 years
and thank CurlManitoba, the entire Host Committee/volunteers and all the Curlers who
will make this another successful event.”

The 12-team championship will be played in a round-robin in two pools of six with three
teams from each pool will carry their records forward and play the three teams from the
other pool. After the eight games, three teams will advance to the playoffs with #2
playing #3 and the winner meeting #1 in the final,

Continuing the tradition of broadcast, the semi-final at 10:00am and the final at 4:00pm
will be available nation-wide on Sportsnet.

CurlManitoba has also recently announced that remote access to Scotties games has
also been expanded by the addition of a comprehensive live-streaming plan. One game
from each draw, except the evening draws, will be available at the CurlManitoba You
Tube channel and at curlmanitoba.org.

(November 22) NEEPAWA’S URSEL TEAM WINS WESTMAN SCOTTIES BERTH .. Neepawa’s Terry Ursel team picked up the fourth Scotties berth available on the weekend, joining Kaitlyn Jones, Kritsy McDonald, and Jennifer Clark-Rouire’s team in winning invitations to compete in Carberry in mid-December.

Ursel (with Wanda Rainka, Kaya Hunter, Tracy Igonia, and fifth Chris Hamblin) won two out of three in Rivers against Alyssa Calvert, who is hoping to be a home team in the Carberry event.

Had it been a ‘total-points’ series, they would have needed an extra end as the two teams each scored 21 points in the three games. Calvert won game #2 9-6 while Ursel was a 7-5 and 8-7 winner. The teams were so closely matched that they were tied coming home in Game #3.

Team Calvert still has a chance to qualify as they will play Shae Bevan’s team for the fifth regional berth at a date & location yet to be determined. The 12th invitation for the Carberry championship will be awarded after the Morris bonspiel in early December.

(UPDATED 8PM: Saturday, Nov. 20) TEAM JCR JOINS JONES, MCDONALD IN EARNING SCOTTIES BERTHS … Kaitlyn and Jones are two well known Manitoba curling names – but two different people playing this week in Saskatoon. Kaitlyn Jones is a pretty well known name as well: a former Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia Junior champion AND Canadian & World junior champion.

Now Kaitlyn Jones is set to make her mark at the Scotties level and she has made the first step by skipping her team (Robyn Njegovan, Abby Ackland, Sara Oliver) to an invitation to compete in Carberry at the Manitoba championship in mid-December.

Trailing 4-1 playing the fourth end, Jones had a draw for a three and a 4-4 tie. The momentum of the game shifted and after a series of singles, Jones had a hit for three on the eighth end. She rolled away but scored a pair to go up 7-6.

The Jones team controlled the final end, got two buried in the four foot and the game ended when Lisa McLeod (skipping the Jennifer Clark-Rouire entry) couldn’t make an in-off attempt to score at least one for tie. The final score was 9-6.

A very well known Manitoba curling name, Kristy McDonald, will join the Jones team in Carberry. Returning to competition after some family time away, McDonald (Lisa Blixhavn, Lindsay Titheridge, Raunora Westcott) adds another former Manitoba Scotties champion skip to the Carberry roster.

McDonald led Shae Bevan 3-0 after two ends but gave up a three on the third when she missed a double kill attempt and left Bevan a draw for the three. McDonald led 5-4 after five ends and had a draw for a four on end #6 to go up 9-4. The final score was 10-5.

On the 5PM draw, the third Winnipeg regional entry into the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry went to the Jennifer Clark-Rouire foursome, skipped by Lisa McLeod (with JCR, Kelsey Meger, Laurie Macdonell, Jolene Callum)

Team JCR, led by two but faced four with their final stone on the last end. Mcleod was certain of a tie after her throw but it was even better than that as Shae Bevan and her team scored only a single; a 4-3 victory for McLeod and her team.

In Rivers, Terry Ursel won game one of the best-of-three series 7-5 but Alyssa Calvert rebounded to win 9-6 in the second game. A third, deciding game will be played in Rivers at 10AM Sunday.

At a time yet to be determined, Shae Beavan’s foursome will play the loser in Rivers for the fifth berth available through regionals.

(November 19) FIVE SCOTTIES BERTHS AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEND … It is fair to suggest Tracey Fleury and Jennifer Jones and their teams would prefer a trip to Beijing over a trip to Carberry.

The top two favourites to win this year’s Manitoba’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer will be playing in Saskatoon, beginning this weekend, in an attempt to win their way out of that trip to Carberry in mid-December.

If either wins Canada’s Olympic Curling Trials, formally knows the Canadian Curling Trials, they would be dropped out of the Manitoba championship as they would be unable to represent Manitoba at the National Scotties which ends just a few days ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Four other teams have also qualified for the Manitoba championship. These include Mackenzie Zacharias, Darcy Robertson, Beth Peterson, and  Kristy Watling.

That leaves five invitations to play in Carberry up for grabs this weekend in regional qualifying – and six teams want them.

In Winnipeg at the Deer Lodge, Jennifer Clark-Rouire, Shae Bevan, Kaitlyn Jones, and Kristy McDonald will play for three provincial berths. Jones play Clark-Rouire and McDonald plays Bevan at 9AM Saturday with the winners getting invitations. Then the two losers will play for the third invitation.

In Westman, Alyssa Calvert hopes to become a home-team in Carberry when she plays a best of three series with Terry Ursel (Neepawa). That happens in Rivers beginning at 10AM Saturday.

That makes four. The losers in Winnipeg and Westman will playoff for the fifth available entry into the Carberry championship.

After this weekend, the last entry into the Carberry Scotties will be announced following the DEKALB Bonspiel in Morris.

Of course, the small number of entries in regional playoffs does not indicate the strength of field of the provincial championships. In fact, the exact opposite – the strength of the Manitoba Scotties field probably explains the lack of regional entries.

There are seven Manitoba teams in the Canadian Team Ranking Systems’ Top 20. Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson, #5, is not eligible as she has pre-qualified for the national Scotties (unless she wins the Trials). Kaitlyn Jones, a former Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia Junior champion and also Canadian and World titleist, is ranked #15 in Canada but has yet to qualify for Carberry.

The other five are pre-qualified: Tracey Fleury (CTRS #1), Jennifer Jones (CTRS #2), Mackenzie Zacharias (CTRS #12), Kristy Watling (CTRS #14), and Beth Peterson (CTRS #15). Also pre-qualified, Darcy Robertson is ranked #35 on the CTRS list.

No question, the 12-team Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry in mid-December will be one of the most competitive women’s curling events ever staged in Manitoba – great championship curling entertainment.

(November 16) GREAT PROGRESS IN PLANNING FOR CARBERRY SCOTTIES …. Carberry is one of the smallest, and perhaps is the smallest, community to ever host one of CurlManitoba’s arena championship curling events.

Rather than being a problem, however, committee chairman Rob Van Kommer says it is an opportunity – an opportunity to showcase the spirit of the community which he is proud to call home and an opportunity to boost community pride.

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer will be played in the Carberry Community Centre December 14-19, 2021 with the full support of the Town of Carberry, the Rural Municipality of North Cypress, the Community Centre and the Curling Club.

“Our committee and our community have really taken hold of the challenge of hosting the Scotties. We’re making great progress,” Van Kommer said recently. “The business community has shown great support – our nine corporate boxes are ‘sold out’ and we have at least eight gold sponsors already; we had over 120 volunteers turn out for our shirt try-on night, and nearly half of our full event passes have been sold.”

Showing the eternal optimism of the Manitoba farmer, Van Kommer can even put a positive spin on the past year’s covid-isolation and the change of timing to December, due to the 2022 Olympic schedule.

‘I don’t think there is any doubt it helps us for the event to be earlier than usual,” he said. “People were isolating for so long that this event is going to be a great way for them to get out and see their friends from across the Manitoba curling community.”

The Carberry Community Centre is a multi-sport facility which includes the four sheet curling facility, a bowling alley, a gun club, an outdoor pool, and hockey arena. For the Scotties, the curling rink will be used as a yet-to-be named hospitality facility.

People worried about it being an ’old barn’ need not be concerned. The building benefited from regular upgrades over the years with new roof, new dressing rooms and new heaters all ensuring the comfort of both fans and curlers. There is also good experience in the arena as a curling arena as Carberry Curling club has staged its annual bonspiel in the arena ever since the clubs 100^th anniversary (nearly 40 years).

While seating capacity in the arena is limited to 450 bleacher seats, the total capacity will be about 1,200 curlers and curling fans. (LINK to Carberry’s Ticket Sales site) One of the innovative Carberry ideas, compared with other provincial events, will be to provide access to the hospitality area via a $20 “party pass”.

That idea was one of many which grew from the imaginations of the Carberry volunteer corps and Van Kommer is quick to credit his executive committee and the other lead volunteers for their energy and ideas. The Executive group includes Kelly Hofer (President of the Ladies Curling Club), Warren Birch (President of the Men’s Curling Club) Trevor Calvert (Past-President of the Men’s Curling Club).

Carberry was originally scheduled to host a dual Manitoba Juniors and Manitoba Seniors Championship event in early 2021 but it, of course, was cancelled due to the pandemic. When CurlManitoba needed a suitable location for the Scotties, Carberry accepted the challenge.

As one of the original seven curling clubs which formed the Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (now CurlManitoba), Carberry is proud to join the list of communities which has hosted one of Manitoba’s major arena curling events.

However, Van Kommer and his group have not given up on the idea of that dual Juniors-Seniors championship event wrapped around their community bonspiel.

“You have to have something to look forward to,” he concludes with a smile.

(November 22) Neepawa’s Terry Ursel team picked up the fourth Scotties berth available on the weekend, joining Kaitlyn Jones, Kritsy McDonald, and Jennifer Clark-Rouire’s team in winning invitations to compete in Carberry in mid-December.

Ursel (with Wanda Rainka, Kaya Hunter, Tracy Igonia, and fifth Chris Hamblin) won two out of three in Rivers against Alyssa Calvert, who is hoping to be a home team in the Carberry event.

Had it been a ‘total-points’ series, they would have needed an extra end as the two teams each scored 21 points in the three games. Calvert won game #2 9-6 while Ursel was a 7-5 and 8-7 winner. The teams were so closely matched that they were tied coming home in Game #3.

Team Calvert still has a chance to qualify as they will play Shae Bevan’s team for the fifth regional berth at a date & location yet to be determined. The 12th invitation for the Carberry championship will be awarded after the Morris bonspiel in early December.

(UPDATED 8PM: Saturday, Nov. 20) TEAM JCR JOINS JONES, MCDONALD IN EARNING SCOTTIES BERTHS … Kaitlyn and Jones are two well known Manitoba curling names – but two different people playing this week in Saskatoon. Kaitlyn Jones is a pretty well known name as well: a former Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia Junior champion AND Canadian & World junior champion.

Now Kaitlyn Jones is set to make her mark at the Scotties level and she has made the first step by skipping her team (Robyn Njegovan, Abby Ackland, Sara Oliver) to an invitation to compete in Carberry at the Manitoba championship in mid-December.

Trailing 4-1 playing the fourth end, Jones had a draw for a three and a 4-4 tie. The momentum of the game shifted and after a series of singles, Jones had a hit for three on the eighth end. She rolled away but scored a pair to go up 7-6.

The Jones team controlled the final end, got two buried in the four foot and the game ended when Lisa McLeod (skipping the Jennifer Clark-Rouire entry) couldn’t make an in-off attempt to score at least one for tie. The final score was 9-6.

A very well known Manitoba curling name, Kristy McDonald, will join the Jones team in Carberry. Returning to competition after some family time away, McDonald (Lisa Blixhavn, Lindsay Titheridge, Raunora Westcott) adds another former Manitoba Scotties champion skip to the Carberry roster.

McDonald led Shae Bevan 3-0 after two ends but gave up a three on the third when she missed a double kill attempt and left Bevan a draw for the three. McDonald led 5-4 after five ends and had a draw for a four on end #6 to go up 9-4. The final score was 10-5.

On the 5PM draw, the third Winnipeg regional entry into the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry went to the Jennifer Clark-Rouire foursome, skipped by Lisa McLeod (with JCR, Kelsey Meger, Laurie Macdonell, Jolene Callum)

Team JCR, led by two but faced four with their final stone on the last end. Mcleod was certain of a tie after her throw but it was even better than that as Shae Bevan and her team scored only a single; a 4-3 victory for McLeod and her team.

In Rivers, Terry Ursel won game one of the best-of-three series 7-5 but Alyssa Calvert rebounded to win 9-6 in the second game. A third, deciding game will be played in Rivers at 10AM Sunday.

At a time yet to be determined, Shae Beavan’s foursome will play the loser in Rivers for the fifth berth available through regionals.

(November 19) FIVE SCOTTIES BERTHS AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEND … It is fair to suggest Tracey Fleury and Jennifer Jones and their teams would prefer a trip to Beijing over a trip to Carberry.

The top two favourites to win this year’s Manitoba’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer will be playing in Saskatoon, beginning this weekend, in an attempt to win their way out of that trip to Carberry in mid-December.

If either wins Canada’s Olympic Curling Trials, formally knows the Canadian Curling Trials, they would be dropped out of the Manitoba championship as they would be unable to represent Manitoba at the National Scotties which ends just a few days ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Four other teams have also qualified for the Manitoba championship. These include Mackenzie Zacharias, Darcy Robertson, Beth Peterson, and  Kristy Watling.

That leaves five invitations to play in Carberry up for grabs this weekend in regional qualifying – and six teams want them.

In Winnipeg at the Deer Lodge, Jennifer Clark-Rouire, Shae Bevan, Kaitlyn Jones, and Kristy McDonald will play for three provincial berths. Jones play Clark-Rouire and McDonald plays Bevan at 9AM Saturday with the winners getting invitations. Then the two losers will play for the third invitation.

In Westman, Alyssa Calvert hopes to become a home-team in Carberry when she plays a best of three series with Terry Ursel (Neepawa). That happens in Rivers beginning at 10AM Saturday.

That makes four. The losers in Winnipeg and Westman will playoff for the fifth available entry into the Carberry championship.

After this weekend, the last entry into the Carberry Scotties will be announced following the DEKALB Bonspiel in Morris.

Of course, the small number of entries in regional playoffs does not indicate the strength of field of the provincial championships. In fact, the exact opposite – the strength of the Manitoba Scotties field probably explains the lack of regional entries.

There are seven Manitoba teams in the Canadian Team Ranking Systems’ Top 20. Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson, #5, is not eligible as she has pre-qualified for the national Scotties (unless she wins the Trials). Kaitlyn Jones, a former Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia Junior champion and also Canadian and World titleist, is ranked #15 in Canada but has yet to qualify for Carberry.

The other five are pre-qualified: Tracey Fleury (CTRS #1), Jennifer Jones (CTRS #2), Mackenzie Zacharias (CTRS #12), Kristy Watling (CTRS #14), and Beth Peterson (CTRS #15). Also pre-qualified, Darcy Robertson is ranked #35 on the CTRS list.

No question, the 12-team Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Carberry in mid-December will be one of the most competitive women’s curling events ever staged in Manitoba – great championship curling entertainment.

(November 16) GREAT PROGRESS IN PLANNING FOR CARBERRY SCOTTIES …. Carberry is one of the smallest, and perhaps is the smallest, community to ever host one of CurlManitoba’s arena championship curling events.

Rather than being a problem, however, committee chairman Rob Van Kommer says it is an opportunity – an opportunity to showcase the spirit of the community which he is proud to call home and an opportunity to boost community pride.

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by Bayer will be played in the Carberry Community Centre December 14-19, 2021 with the full support of the Town of Carberry, the Rural Municipality of North Cypress, the Community Centre and the Curling Club.

“Our committee and our community have really taken hold of the challenge of hosting the Scotties. We’re making great progress,” Van Kommer said recently. “The business community has shown great support – our nine corporate boxes are ‘sold out’ and we have at least eight gold sponsors already; we had over 120 volunteers turn out for our shirt try-on night, and nearly half of our full event passes have been sold.”

Showing the eternal optimism of the Manitoba farmer, Van Kommer can even put a positive spin on the past year’s covid-isolation and the change of timing to December, due to the 2022 Olympic schedule.

‘I don’t think there is any doubt it helps us for the event to be earlier than usual,” he said. “People were isolating for so long that this event is going to be a great way for them to get out and see their friends from across the Manitoba curling community.”

The Carberry Community Centre is a multi-sport facility which includes the four sheet curling facility, a bowling alley, a gun club, an outdoor pool, and hockey arena. For the Scotties, the curling rink will be used as a yet-to-be named hospitality facility.

People worried about it being an ’old barn’ need not be concerned. The building benefited from regular upgrades over the years with new roof, new dressing rooms and new heaters all ensuring the comfort of both fans and curlers. There is also good experience in the arena as a curling arena as Carberry Curling club has staged its annual bonspiel in the arena ever since the clubs 100^th anniversary (nearly 40 years).

While seating capacity in the arena is limited to 450 bleacher seats, the total capacity will be about 1,200 curlers and curling fans. (LINK to Carberry’s Ticket Sales site) One of the innovative Carberry ideas, compared with other provincial events, will be to provide access to the hospitality area via a $20 “party pass”.

That idea was one of many which grew from the imaginations of the Carberry volunteer corps and Van Kommer is quick to credit his executive committee and the other lead volunteers for their energy and ideas. The Executive group includes Kelly Hofer (President of the Ladies Curling Club), Warren Birch (President of the Men’s Curling Club) Trevor Calvert (Past-President of the Men’s Curling Club).

Carberry was originally scheduled to host a dual Manitoba Juniors and Manitoba Seniors Championship event in early 2021 but it, of course, was cancelled due to the pandemic. When CurlManitoba needed a suitable location for the Scotties, Carberry accepted the challenge.

As one of the original seven curling clubs which formed the Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (now CurlManitoba), Carberry is proud to join the list of communities which has hosted one of Manitoba’s major arena curling events.

However, Van Kommer and his group have not given up on the idea of that dual Juniors-Seniors championship event wrapped around their community bonspiel.

“You have to have something to look forward to,” he concludes with a smile.