HOG LINE: Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame embracing digital age

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/12/2021 (1498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not your average curling fan.

While everyone was refreshing their favourite social media feeds over the weekend to find out the latest information in the Brendan Bottcher and Darren Moulding drama, I was watching footage from the 2002 McCain TSN Skins Game and looking up old newspaper clippings for future summer history projects that will be appearing in this space. 

So when I found out that the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame was launching its virtual museum last Thursday, I was immediately interested in learning more about it. 

“The idea of having a virtual hall of fame is something that’s been in the back of our minds for a few years,” president Peter Nicholls said. “We just wondered if it would ever come to fruition, so to finally have this come together and to be able to showcase our website is something we’re all excited about.”

“This presents an opportunity for us to allow more people to learn about the history of our sports,” vice-president Resby Coutts added. “I’m not suggesting that talking about a team from the 1900s is going to excite someone to go out and curl, but it’s a part of our heritage and it’s very important to know where we came from, not just in curling, but in all walks of life.”

While the Hall of Fame would love to have a physical museum to show off their collection, that’s easier said than done, with storage and insurance costs for the more than 40,000 artifacts, documents and images running around $10,000 a year. 

“If something were to fall into our laps and we could have a huge 10,000-square-foot place to have a facility like the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, we’d certainly love to do it, but it would be tough with the limited funds we have and the fact that we have a volunteer board,” Nicholls said.

“I think the (COVID-19) pandemic probably allowed us to spend more time in working on the virtual museum and paying more attention on this project,” Coutts added. “There’s been several people that have helped us out in putting this together and a lot of work that has gone into it.”

The first major exhibit on the website, which can be found at mbcurlmuseum.com, is an in-depth history of the Manitoba men’s curling championship, which is now known as the Viterra Championship.

There are also profiles on each hall of fame inductee, going back to the first class in 1987.

While many hall of fames have their profiles set in stone once they are added to the wall, that’s not the case with the virtual museum’s honour scrolls.

They can be updated at any time, such as last month when Jennifer Jones qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

“Different people and teams have been inducted at different times for various reasons or accomplishments,” Nicholls said. “A perfect example would be Jeff Stoughton, who was inducted with his mom Nell in 1998 and had already achieved amazing accomplishments in mixed curling by that point.

“Lois Fowler and Maureen Bonar also fall into that category,” Coutts added. “They had earned their hall of fame status when they were both inducted (in 2003 and 2009 respectively) and they went on to win world championships.”

The Hall of Fame also announced their 2021 induction class last week, which paid tribute to historically significant teams.

Those rinks are William Burns’ 1932 Olympic gold medal winning squad, Sam Harstone’s quartet that won the first MCA Bonspiel in 1889, Hector McLean’s rink that won the MCA event from 1900 to 1902, the F.R. Munro team that captured the first two MCA women’s bonspiels in 1914 and 1915 and Ethel Wright’s 1955 Western Canadian Championship rink.

“The Munro rink and the other teams that competed in the first MCA women’s bonspiel were another brick in the foundation of Manitoba’s reputation of being a great curling province and it created an opportunity and encourage others to compete and excel for the generations that followed,” Coutts said. 

“The Wright team from Flin Flon had the chance to play for the Western title in 1955 because of what the ladies in the previous decades had done and that eventually led to Connie Laliberte and Jennifer Jones having success at the Scotties. It’s a really interesting timeline when you go back and look at how the sport has evolved.”

The class will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame during a banquet on May 14, 2022 at a yet-to-be-determined location.

The evening will also see the 2020 class honoured — which includes Karen Purty, Vic Peters, Chris Neufeld, Ernie Oliver, Darcy Kirkness’ 1984 Canadian women’s junior championship rink, Stoughton’s 2011 World men’s championship squad and Coutts.

As for the virtual museum, there will be new exhibits added throughout the course of the year, which will certainly leave those interested in the history of the game to come back for more.

I will be among those frequent visitors, especially if it involves any major events that have happened in Western Manitoba.

Returning to present day, the field is now set for this year’s Manitoba Scotties, which runs from Dec. 14-19 at the Carberry Plains Community Centre.

The 12 rinks that will be vying for a spot at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay are as follows:

• Tracy Fleury (East St. Paul)
• Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial)
• Mackenzie Zacharias (Altona)
• Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial)
• Kristy Watling (Fort Rouge)
• Meghan Walter (East St. Paul)
• Terry Ursel (Neepawa)
• Alyssa Calvert (Carberry)
• Kaitlyn Jones (Assiniboine Memorial)
• Kristy McDonald (Granite)
• Jennifer Clark-Rouire (Miami)
• Shae Bevan (St. Vital)

Kerri Einarson, who won the last provincial playdowns in 2020, has already punched her ticket to Thunder Bay after winning the 2021 Scotties in Calgary.

Jones’ rink will not be competing as they will be gearing up for their trip to Beijing in February. 

EXTRA ENDS: In the last major event before the provincials get underway, Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland captured the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris on Monday afternoon with a 6-4 win over British Columbia’s Kayla McMillan. Robertson and Peterson led the way for Manitoba rinks with playoff appearances, but they lost in the quarterfinal round to MacMillan and North Dakota’s Rachel Workin respectively. … The men’s final saw Jason Gunnlaugson defeat Alberta’s Karsten Sturmay by a score of 5-3. Colton Lott’s rink reached the quarterfinals but lost to Ontario’s Tanner Horgan.