Calvert wins the big one

SELKIRK — Braden Calvert can finally zip up a buffalo jacket and say he’s going to the Brier.

The 30-year-old skip from Carberry got over the hump Sunday evening inside the Selkirk Recreation Complex after suffering heartbreaking losses in the previous two provincial finals.

Calvert raised his right arm in the air before joining his teammates for a celebratory embrace after executing a raise takeout for three to prevail 10-7 in an extra end over Jordon McDonald, claiming Manitoba men’s curling crown.

“I’m still in shock right now. It’s unbelievable,” said Calvert.

“It’s a childhood dream for all of us and it’s hard to put into words. You know, you grow up watching Jeff Stoughton, Mike McEwen and Kerry Burtnyk and now your name’s kind of beside them in history. It’s pretty cool.”

For a moment, it looked like Calvert had let the game slip through his fingers and was destined for another devastating defeat. He had a chance to end things with a draw in the 10th but his stone was heavy which allowed McDonald to steal a single and force an 11th end.

Calvert stood there in disbelief before somehow finding a way to put the misfire behind him.

“Halfway down, I thought we won. I liked how I threw it and it just slid on us,” said Calvert, who lost on championship Sunday to Reid Carruthers the last two years.

“You got to bounce back and get in a good head space pretty quickly so I’m proud of the guys for supporting me and we were able to pull it off.”

Calvert, third Corey Chambers, second Kyle Kurz, and lead Brendan Bilawka will all make their Brier debuts in St. John’s, N.L. (Feb. 27-March 8).

“I just look at the guys we did this with. Corey, he’s older than us and man, he’s battled in Manitoba forever. No one’s played more games than him on the MCT tour and he’s such a talent,” said Calvert.

“I’m just so happy we could pick him up and make this Brier for him. Deep down, I feel like I’ve been playing for him a little bit just wanting him to go so bad.”

Chambers skipped his own rink to the final four at the 2022 Manitoba playdowns before he and Bilawka teamed up with Calvert and Kurz ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.

“You start to sort of doubt whether or not the dream is going to come true. I’m honestly speechless right now,” said Chambers, 39.

“Our first Brier, going to Newfoundland, the crowd’s going to be insane there. I can’t think of a better first one to go to.”

McDonald, a 22-year-old out of Assiniboine Memorial, had a brilliant week winning his first five games — including a victory over Calvert in an A-qualifer on Friday — before falling 8-7 in Saturday night’s Page 1 vs. 2 game against the eventual event winners. McDonald outlasted Brett Walter 10-4 early Sunday in the semifinal.

Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch knocked off Reid Carruthers 10-5 to reach the 3-vs.-4 Page playoff game. He settled for fourth place, losing 8-6 to Brett Walter, who defeated Brandon’s Steve Irwin 10-6 a round earlier.

Sunday wasn’t the first high-stakes battle between the two up-and-comers as they also met in the Canadian Curling Pre-Trials final in Wolfville, N.S., back in October. McDonald took down Calvert in a best-of-three series that went the distance to become the youngest skip in Canadian history to play at the trials.

“I think this was our seventh game playing against them this year,” said Chambers.

“We know it’s going to be a dog fight every single time. The teams are so evenly matched.”

Burtnyk and Matt Dunstone (albeit for Saskatchewan) were just 22 years old when they skipped their first Briers, but for many of Manitoba’s all-time best — Stoughton (27), Carruthers (30), and McEwen (35) — it came years later in their careers.

McDonald is well ahead of schedule.

“Obviously, this is my first men’s provincial final. I’m really disappointed. I just wanted to make a couple more shots early on in the game for my teammates,” said McDonald

“But, yeah, I’m super proud of the guys for a super great week and hopefully we can learn from this experience and do better moving forward. But obviously, it’s really devastating. We want to always win. Especially getting to the trials and not quite getting to the Brier, it sucks.”

Calvert jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three ends. After some early jitters, Team McDonald, which features third Jacques Gauthier, second Elias Huminicki, and lead Cameron Olafson, punched back with a double in the seventh to cut Calvert’s advantage to 5-4 going into the home stretch.

Calvert secured some breathing room in the eighth by hitting a raise takeout to score a pair, only for McDonald to rebound with his own deuce in the ninth thanks to an impressive double takeout to set up a memorable finale.

“I think we did a great job of making more shots late in the game and forced them to make a tricky shot in the last end. You just gotta hope for misses and fortunately, we got a couple later in the game,” said McDonald.

“To take it to an extra end was great and I’m proud of the boys’ effort to keep fighting.”

It was just last month when Calvert watched his wife Kelsey skip Team Beth Peterson to the Manitoba women’s title in Rivers. Peterson and Co. were also in the big game for a third year in a row after losing the two before.

Perhaps the missing ingredient for the Calverts was their eight-month old daughter Louella.

“I think our good luck charm, Louella, is earning her keep in our household,” said Calvert with a grin.

» Winnipeg Free Press