Dunbar debuting as skip at provincials

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This article was published 30/01/2018 (2988 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cale Dunbar’s last appearance at the men’s provincial curling championship came three years ago at Westman Place — as a member of the ice crew.

The 32-year-old Crocus Plains teacher will make his competitive return to the Viterra Championship for the first time since 2013 when he faces seventh-seeded David Bohn of Winnipeg in Winkler on Wednesday morning.

Five years ago in Neepawa, Dunbar played second for Rob Van Kommer’s Carberry foursome at what was then known as the Safeway Championship. They dropped an 8-4 decision to Dennis Bohn and then bowed out of the 32-team modified double-knockout competition with a 10-4 loss to Travis Graham.

Dunbar is excited for his fifth trip to provincials, but this time he’s skipping a team out of the Riverview club. His four previous trips with Van Kommer, Kelly Marnoch and Richard Muntain, all had him at second.

“That’s the role I’ve been playing for the last four years with my men’s competitive teams, so it’s not going to be that much different,” Dunbar said. “You’ve just got to look at it as an other bonspiel. I know it’s not, it’s the big one, but you can’t put too much weight into it, just go out and play the game you are going to play.”

“I’ve been out in that environment before and to take the next step and to skip a team I’m really looking forward to that challenge,” he added.

He will be joined by young guns Shayne MacGranachan and Cody Chatham as well as veteran Kyle Sambrook at lead.

Dunbar and Sambrook curled with Duane Lang and Sheldon Wettig, but the skipper didn’t feel like the foursome was clicking so he shook things up in the off-season. With two open spots, Dunbar added MacGranachan and Chatham.

Dunbar coached MacGranachan, who subbed in at the last minute for Brendan Taylor at third on Brandonite Terry McNamee’s team in Selkirk two years ago, but admits its been an adjustment playing alongside his former protege.

“I’ve known he’s a great thrower,” Dunbar said of MacGranachan. “He played with Cody before so he recommended that Cody come along and so Kyle and I thought what the heck, bring on two young guys and see what happens.”

“It’s interesting, they’re very experienced curlers so really we didn’t miss a beat,” he continued. “There were some growing pains early in the season … our super league record wasn’t as good as we would have liked it to have been but with two new throwers (it makes sense). I’ve coached Shayne for years but it’s a little different holding the broom for him and calling the game with him.

“Once we caught onto how everybody throws we’ve had a very successful end to our season up until this point.”

Dunbar and company finished 11th in the Forest Hills Westman Super League of Curling standings at 3-8, but they earned their way to Winkler by defeating McNamee 7-5 in an A-side qualifier at Westman regionals in Rivers earlier this month.

He is optimistic his team has a deep Viterra run in them, but knows getting draw weight down in critical to having any success.

“We don’t get to play on arena ice as much as some of the big teams do so that will be our first goal is to catch onto the ice and find draw weight,” Dunbar said. “We have one of the Bohn brothers in our first game so we are going to have our work cut out for us but catching onto the ice and feeling comfortable in that arena is going to be the ticket.”

“For teams at our level this is sort of our goal, this is what we shoot for for the year is to make it to the Viterra and now our goal is to win a couple games and see what happens,” he continued. “You never know once we’re there good things can happen.”

Steve Irwin also hopes his Brandon club foursome can find its rhythm in Winkler.

The 35-year-old skip, along with third Travis Taylor, second Travis Brooks and lead Travis Saban, are seeded 12th at the Viterra — highest of any Westman-based squad — but they haven’t enjoyed a great season.

A big part of it has been the lack of games they’ve played, posting a 16-10 record in 26 contests heading to Winkler. Normally, they’d be up around 60 or 70 games before provincials.

“Two of the guys just had kids in the last year and my kids are getting busy with stuff and it’s just one of those things that is happening now as we are getting older,” Irwin said. “Family lives are taking over which is OK. It definitely is affecting how much we can play and our results as well.”

“Speaking for myself, I know that I haven’t been on the ice nearly as much as I usually am and it definitely has affected the consistency,” he continued. “The shots are still there and usually once we get playing a few games then everything kind of comes back.”

Nonetheless, his team has had solid performances in limited action, posting a 7-4 record in super league play only to give up a stolen extra-end point in a 6-5 quarter-final loss to Marnoch last week.

They also reached the semifinals at the 127th annual Brandon Men’s Bonspiel, losing 5-4 to Virden’s Graham Freeman, and qualified for the quarter-finals at the World Curling Tour’s King Spud Classic in Carberry, only to drop a 4-2 decision to Jordan Smith.

Irwin punched his ticket to Winkler by knocking off Freeman 7-1 in the other A-side qualifier in Rivers.

He will open his 11th trip to provincials — and fourth as a skip — versus Winnipegger Tyler Drews on Wednesday afternoon, and he is in the same qualifying group as fourth-seeded Pat Simmons and No. 5 William Lyburn, a former Brandonite.

Each of the last two years Irwin has reached a B-side qualifier, losing both times — 7-2 to Trevor Loreth last year in Portage la Prairie and 7-5 to Alex Forrest in 2016 — and he knows it will be tough to make it to the final eight for the first time since 2014 when he advanced to the 2-vs.-2 Page playoff game in Winnipeg. His team fell 9-8 to Lyburn in the Page game.

“Being in the four-five pool I’ve always thought is the hardest because if you’re in the one- or two-pool those guys are going to get their spots and then you battle out with the seventh- or eighth-seeds,” Irwin said. “But there’s so many good teams in Manitoba this year that in the four-five pool you get the slam teams.”

Due to their limited games, Irwin says this week’s expectations have been tempered but the goal remains the same and that’s to be among the last eight teams.

“Every time you go there you are looking to make the final eight,” he said. “To make it to Saturday is definitely goal one.

“Expectations are probably lower this year than what they have been but we have had flashes of greatness this year and there have been times when we’ve struggled a lot, just depends on which team shows up.”

Former Brandonite Mike McEwen enters as the two-time defending champion and is seeded first, while Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers and Jason Gunnlaugson are seeded second and third, respectively.

The other Westman skips in the field looking to become the first champion from the region since Brandonite Rob Fowler’s title run in Dauphin in 2012 include Marnoch, McNamee, Freeman and Dauphin’s Rob Fisher.

Braden Calvert of Carberry is also skipping a team out of the Deer Lodge club in Winnipeg, while former Brandonite Chase Dusessoy is throwing second stones for Elmwood’s Brett Walter. Curtis McCannell has been picked up as the fifth for Pinawa’s Richard Muntain.

The Viterra Championship runs through Sunday, with Sportsnet broadcasting the last two championship-round games: Sunday’s semifinal (8:30 a.m.) and final (3 p.m.).

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