Dunbar falls out, Irwin moves on at Viterra

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This article was published 07/02/2025 (302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — From the highs of hard-fought victory to the lows of a gutting defeat, while curling boasts itself just like our provincial moniker as friendly, it can also can be cruel.

For a handful of Westman teams, Wednesday’s momentum didn’t carry into Thursday, ending their pursuit of weekend play at the Viterra Championship early.

Brandon’s Cale Dunbar fell 8-2 to Braden Calvert in Thursday’s early draw, then struggled against Marcus Titchkosky and lost 8-4 to bow out of the men’s provincial curling championship at Stride Place.

Titchkosky picked up a single in the first, then Dunbar came up short with his final rock in two.

Titchkosky stole two for an early 3-0 lead and didn’t slow down from there.

“It’s disappointing. We played well against Calvert, they’re a strong team and they didn’t miss. So we’re OK with that loss,” said Dunbar.

“But in the second one we just came out a little flat. They gave us opportunities and we just didn’t take them. We were struggling with draw weight. It’s disappointing because you don’t want to be out early but there’s a lot of good teams out there.”

“We always come here to enjoy it and every win get is a bonus. Portage put on an awesome event and made us feel like we’re the top of the game for a few days,” Dunbar added.

Virden’s Jace Freeman faced a similar fate after losing 10-3 to Brett Walter in Thursday’s early draw.

Freeman faced Dauphin’s Greg Todoruk in the afternoon draw after Todoruk took care of Mike Mahon by a score of 10-4 earlier.

So with both teams already having a loss, it was win-or-go home.

Freeman put up a deuce in the opening end before a steal of two for an early 4-0 lead, then cruised to a 10-1 triumph to end Todoruk’s week.

“It was about resilience,” said Freeman. “We knew we had a really tough game in our first one against the five seed … but we just took what we learned from that game and took it with us into that second game and it really helped us.”

The highs and lows of a one-sided loss followed with a one-sided win are just adding to Freeman’s education at this level.

At just 20, he continues to impress, but knows both the learning opportunities and work aren’t done yet.

He’ll face another tough test today against Justin Richter, who advanced with a 9-3 win over Dean Dunstone.

“We knew we had to have a good second one (Thursday). They’re a good team,” said Freeman. “They beat us last year … so it was a little bit of revenge. They’re great guys, and we knew we had to play really good to pull that one out.”

Freeman continues to keep learning by playing as much into the week as they can and gain from the experience one end at a time.

“We have a lot of respect for them (Richter), and if we win that one we know the B-qualifier might be even tougher.”

Jeff Stewart’s rink out of Gladstone has enjoyed two wins, although they didn’t come easy.

The Gladstone rink opened with a hard-fought 10-7 win over Ryan Hyde on Wednesday.

Stewart followed that with another battle Thursday in the mid-day draw against the Fort Rouge’s Jordan Peters, who throws third stones.

After waiting to play their opening game late Wednesday, Stewart won 7-4 and is through to an A-side qualifier.

“We made a lot more shots (Thursday),” said Stewart’s second Geoff Trimble. “Wednesday was a bit of a struggle in the first half, we got lucky in the back end to eke out that win.”

Comfort and familiarity played a role. Trimble is playing essentially on home ice as the former president of the Portage Curling Club who now lives near Gladstone. He said the team did a far better job of acclimating to the conditions on Thursday.

“On my end I definitely felt like I was throwing better today and as a team I think we were judging it much better,” said Trimble. “The shots, calling the line, judging the weight, it’s all huge and our job of communicating was much better in this one.”

Brandon’s Steve Irwin survived a scare to get into an A-side qualifier Thursday afternoon. After putting up five in the second end, Irwin fended off a surging Devon Wiebe, who constantly chipped away to stay in it but ultimately fell 8-4.

Irwin was proud of how his team stayed in the fight.

“We’re traditionally slow starters in this event so it’s great to get those two wins to start,” said Irwin.

“Devon started crawling back on us in this one. It was a real good game. Fortunate break in two and we just kinda held on from there.”

At this event, all competitors know no win comes easy, and neither Stewart nor Irwin’s second games did, but they held on to be in good positions moving along.

Good thing too, because it only gets tougher from here.

Irwin plays the second seed Jordon McDonald, while Stewart plays top seed Reid Carruthers.

“We’ll just take it one game at a time and we’ll obviously have a tough one up next but hopefully we can just come out, and keep our A-game going, and give them a run for their money,” said Trimble.

“J-Mac next, and you know that one’s going to be a battle,” said Irwin.

“Those boys are playing good, so even if that doesn’t go our way we still have a way through the B-side. Hopefully we’ll play well in the morning and beat them but if not we still have another crack at it.”

Both Stewart and Irwin play in the early draw today, set for 8:30 a.m.

Teams who win this mornign’s A-side qualifiers advance to the playoff round, while the losers move directly to B-side qualifiers at 4 p.m., awaiting the winners of the 12:15 p.m. draw.

The playoff round, including eight teams, begins tonight at 7:45.

The final is on Sunday at 3 p.m.

» mpackwood@brandonsun.com