HOG LINE: Warren rink ready for Masters

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This article was published 09/11/2022 (1115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Murray Warren and his rink were unable to represent Manitoba at the 2020 Canadian Masters Curling Championship.

Two years later, the Brandon Curling Club squad will get the chance to compete for their province.

The quartet — which features Brian Barker at third, Terry Warren at second and Reg Warren at lead —will wear the Buffalo at the 2022 Canadian Masters, which begins on Monday and runs through Sunday, Nov. 20 at the Pembina Curling Club in Winnipeg.

“I don’t think there can be a better feeling than to be able to play in Manitoba,” Terry Warren said.

Before everything came to a screeching halt in March 2020, the rink won the provincial masters title over Hamiota’s Dale Brooks in Dugald.

They were slated to travel to the nationals in Rothesay and Saint John, N.B., later that month, but the pandemic resulted in that event being cancelled.

Warren took advantage of his second chance to win a provincial masters title last April at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club in Winnipeg.

After going 7-0 in pool play, he defeated Greg McGibbon’s Granite rink by a score of 8-6 in the 1 vs. 1 Page playoff game and followed that up with a 6-4 win over Mark Franklin of the Granite in the final.

“Both provincials kind of went the same way, but we were pretty fortunate to win it all this time around,” Reg Warren said. “We could have easily lost that final to Mark (who hit a guard while attempting a takeout on his final shot) but we ended up being on the right side of the inch.”

This will mark the second time that the Warren rink has competed in a national event.

The foursome took part in the 2017 Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Fredericton, N.B., and finished in a tie for fifth place with a 5-5 record.

“The biggest thing we learned that week was that you can’t take anyone for granted,” Reg Warren said. “We played the Northwest Territories team that had been struggling all week, but they were fired up to face us and they gave us a heck of a battle.”

“I think that experience is going to make things a little bit easier for myself,” Barker added. “We know what it’s going to be like now at the nationals and we’re going to approach it just like we do when we are playing out here.”

While the Warren brothers have been curling together for a half-century, Barker didn’t join the rink until 12 years ago.

The team has been tough to beat ever since, especially in the Westoba Credit Union Masters Super League as they’ve won the last two titles and ran the table in 2021.

“We’re pretty calm and cool out there,” Barker said. “If we miss a shot, we don’t really get rilled up too much.

“You just have to roll with the punches,” Reg Warren added. “If someone misses a shot, it’s not a big deal. The next guy is going to make a better one. That’s how you have to look at it.”

While they are going up against some tough competition this week, including two-time defending champion Mickey Pendergast of Alberta and two-time Brier winner Al Hackner of Northern Ontario, Murray Warren thinks that their previous national experience will help them out in Winnipeg.

“You still have to play your very best and get a few breaks here or there,” Warren said.

“If you get on the right side of the ice … you never know what happens if you get everything working for you.”

EXTRA ENDS: Warren is one of four Manitoba rinks that will be competing at the nationals. Judy Colwell’s East St. Paul quartet will wear the Buffalo in the women’s competition, while Franklin and Sandra Cowling of Hamiota are the host teams in each event … Matt Dunstone’s Winnipeg-based squad reached the final of a World Curling Tour cashspiel in Penticton, B.C., on Monday but lost a 7-4 affair to 2018 Olympic gold medalist John Shuster of the United States.

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