Young McDonald draws praise at Viterra

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This article was published 09/02/2024 (587 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STONEWALL — It’s one of the nicest things you can say about a Manitoba curler.

William Lyburn didn’t say it to be nice, though. He means every bit of it when asked what type of talent 20-year-old skip Jordon McDonald is.

“I’ve been saying it for years. I think he’s the closest I’ve seen that emulates Jeff Stoughton when throwing the rock,” said the 48-year-old Lyburn, a former Brandonite who coaches McDonald’s Assiniboine-based team and has filled in for them at the odd men’s event this season.

He has a ways to go to have a resume close to Stoughton’s — a two-time world champion — but McDonald is off to a strong start in his young career.

With second Elias Huminicki and lead Cam Olafson, McDonald captured both the 2022 Manitoba under-18 and the 2023 provincial junior championship titles.

This season, with Thunder Bay’s Dallas Burgess at third, they’ve started their ascension at the men’s level to the No. 25 spot in the Canadian Team Ranking System and the No. 4 seed at this week’s Manitoba men’s provincials in Stonewall.

They’re currently 2-0 and will meet fellow Assiniboine curler Brett Walter — the No. 5 seed — in an A-side playoff qualifier this morning.

“I actually played mixed doubles with his daughter (Elizabeth) a little while ago so I know Jeff a little bit,” said McDonald, who’s also on the golf team at the University of Manitoba.

“It’s just an honour being referred to a name like that. It makes you want to keep working hard at it and keep getting better and better.”

This season’s junior provincials take place in Carman Feb. 21-25. The focus this year, however, has been to get more men’s tournaments under their belts. They won the Manitoba Curling Tour’s Showdown in East St. Paul and the Shootout in Selkirk in addition to three semi-finals and one other finals appearance.

“Playing junior teams doesn’t help us as much as it used to. Playing more men’s has allowed us to play a bit more under pressure with different strategies with more rocks in play. Hopefully, if we do get to (junior) nationals (March 24-31 in Fort McMurray, Alta.,) it’s more like the teams that we’d play at nationals,” said McDonald, who grabbed bronze last year’s Canadian juniors.

Despite being the youngest team in the top five, McDonald is eager to make some noise in Stonewall.

“We’re gonna try and make it to the final eight. I think we just gotta try to play like we can. The pressure shouldn’t be on us because I guess we’re a little younger, but there’s always some pressure there,” said McDonald.

He has Stoughton’s famous spin-o-rama in his repertoire, but don’t expect to see it this week or anytime soon.

“I do it in practice, but I’ve never done one in a game. I don’t like throwing it in a game, it’s just a little too much,” said McDonald.

Dauphin’s Greg Toduruk beat Virden’s Jace Freeman 7-5 while Carberry’s Braden Calvert downed Derek Blanchard 6-4. The two meet in an A qualifier this morning.

On the B side, Brandon’s Steve Irwin beat Greg Melnichuk 7-5 and Blanchard 8-5 to stay alive. He meets either Freeman or Steen Sigurdson, who were still on the ice at deadline, for a shot at a B qualifier.

Brandon’s Cale Dunbar fell to the B side but beat Hamiota’s Travis Gregory 8-5 and will meet Hayden Forrester this afternoon, two wins away from the final eight as well.

Carruthers survives Thursday scare

The student almost got the best of the teacher.

Logan Ede — a 21-year-old import skip from Kipling, Sask., — used to make the trip to Winnipeg to attend Reid Carruthers’ curling camps. The two were reacquainted Thursday afternoon at the Manitoba men’s provincials and Ede, who plays with third Reece Hamm, second Emerson Klimpke, and lead Ryan Zapotochny out of the Stonewall Club, took Carruthers to the limit.

No. 1 seed Carruthers, skipped by Brad Jacobs, were held off the scoreboard for eight ends, scoring a single in the 10th to escape with a 3-2 victory.

With the win, they will now play Charleswood’s Riley Smith in Friday morning’s A-side playoff qualifier.

The other A-side playoff qualifiers feature Assiniboine’s Ryan Wiebe vs. Beausejour’s Justin Richter, McDonald vs. Assiniboine’s Brett Walter, and Dauphin’s Greg Todoruk vs. Fort Rouge’s Braden Calvert.

“Great game. Yeah, they’re a great team, but at the end of the day, it’s just curling. You got to try to avoid any distractions, including the other team,” said Ede.

“Our goal going in was to have someone have to make a shot for the win whether it was myself or Brad, and he ended up having a shot for the win and he made it.”

Ede is in his first year playing men’s after winning the Saskatchewan junior title in 2023. Ede and Hamm — who won the Manitoba junior championship with Jordon McDonald last year — played against each other several times on the under-21 circuit.

“I was kind of just ready to see something new this year and play with a new team coming into men’s,” said Ede.

“Obviously, this is a strong province for men’s curling and you got to play against the best to get better.”

After starting the season at second, Ede swapped positions with Klimpke to take over at skip and helped the team qualify for provincials in early December.

Ede took on Charleswood’s Darren Perche in B-side action late Thursday.

The strong showing against Carruthers is a huge confidence for the first-year squad.

“I think it shows that when we play to our strengths and our game that we can play with anybody. It doesn’t really matter who throws the other eight rocks, it matters what we do with our eight,” said Ede.

“If we can keep that mindset going forward, we’re going to be able to compete with anybody and hopefully be one of the last teams standing here.”

» Winnipeg Free Press