Westman Superleague expands for 50th anniversary

Tonight, the Taylor Jackson Financial Westman Superleague of Curling celebrates its 50th anniversary as one of the top destinations for high-level curling in western Manitoba, with a slate of seven games and two new teams.

“There’s no league like ours that I’m aware of … no one’s had the staying power that we’ve had in Brandon,” said president Cale Dunbar, who was crowned champion at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. “That’s a huge testament to the strength of curling in our city, number one, but also the sponsorship and the partners we can bring on board every year to make sure the league survives.”

League records date back to the 1976-77 season when the team of Ted Bridgett, Murray Duncan, Art Chacun and Scott Cockbill were named champions. At that time, it was a travelling league.

Since then, the league went through a stint at the now-defunct Wheat City Curling Club before settling at the Brandon Curling Club, where it continues to take place today.

While there are currently no concrete plans to celebrate the historic milestone, Dunbar says an event including many of the former players is in the works.

This year, the 12-team league is expanding to incorporate two more teams due to increased interest during the off-season.

“We had interest from 13 teams, and so, as an executive, we made a decision to seek out a 14th team,” said Dunbar. “There are lots of strong men’s teams that are playing, which is a very good sign, and to have eight new guys in the Westman area who want to play at a high level is awesome.”

Justin West and his team of Austin West, Travis Dunbar and Russell Levandoski are the first of the two additional teams to join the league.

“It’s a group of local guys, all curlers that just haven’t been playing at that level yet and just wanted to give it a go,” said Dunbar.

To round out the numbers, the league reached out to the Brandon University men’s team, who subsequently agreed to join as well. That team consists of skip Logan Strand, Colton Graham, Owen McFarlane, Clayton Robins and Jonathan Craig Penner.

“(BU’s) program has really developed over the last couple of years, and I think they’re going to be highly competitive and so will the West team,” said Dunbar.

Over the last five years, Dunbar — who says he’s curled in the league for 15 to 16 years —and his teammates Kyle Sambrook, Shayne McGranachan and Chris Campbell have won three championships in 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2025-26. They’ve become perennial contenders in a league full of talented curlers.

With three championships within a five-year span, Dunbar and his team meet the generally recognized qualifications for a dynasty, something that Dunbar himself pushes back on. As reigning champions, the rest of the league will certainly have their eyes on the team.

“We’re just really good friends, and we love to play,” said Dunbar. “Sometimes the season clicks and other times it doesn’t.

“Those three championships, there was a bad year in between each of them too, so it goes both ways. It’s such a good league that you have to play well, and if you get the breaks in a season, you can put something together.”

In their younger years, Dunbar and his team travelled around going to bonspiels and competing as often as they could. Now, they enjoy playing when they can while balancing their passion with home and work lives.

Dunbar himself is a teacher at Neelin High School where he specializes in math and physics.

“It’s a tough balance for sure,” said Dunbar. “You find the time if you want to, and I’ve definitely carved out that time for the super league, the odd bonspiel here and there and a little bit of practice time in between if we can.”

As someone who prioritizes curling and finds ways to fit it into his schedule, Dunbar is pleased to have a place to play where the skill level is quite high.

“It’s great to play against four other players of the same calibre that make you play better,” said Dunbar. “All the new teams that have come into our league have said how much it’s grown their skills, grown their game and made them better at this game that we all love.”

With so many talented curlers in the league, a fourth championship will be difficult to achieve. There are plenty of other teams that are also considered perennial contenders, like team Irwin, team Marnoch and team Stewart.

“I shouldn’t start naming them because they’re all capable of winning the league,” said Dunbar. “Those guys that have been around for about as long as I have, and some even longer, they’re always super strong and tough to play against.”

Fans can tune into the Westman Superleague on Westman Communications Group TV. This week’s featured matchup is Jeff Stewart against Justin Anderson starting at 8:30 p.m.

The rest of the week one matchups include: Andrew Kempthorne vs. Derek Samagalski; West vs. Kelly Marnoch; Duane Payette vs. Travis Gregory; Chris Bridges vs. Steve Irwin; Dunbar vs. BU; and Jay Kinnaird vs. Alyssa Calvert.

Dunbar hopes that fans will turn out to watch the start of what should be another competitive season of curling.

“We are just thankful to have that spot to play every Wednesday,” Dunbar said. “Hopefully people tune in on Westman Communications or come down to the rink to watch; it’s pretty great curling.”

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com