HOG LINE: Calvert searching for redemption at Viterra

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This article was published 07/02/2023 (1229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At last year’s Viterra Championship in Selkirk, Carberry’s Braden Calvert seemed to have things well in hand in a 1-vs.-2 Page playoff qualifying game.

Then things went completely pear-shaped.

Despite holding a 6-3 advantage after eight ends, Calvert gave up three points in the ninth and one more in the tenth to drop a 7-6 decision to Mike McEwen.

A few hours later, Calvert lost 6-5 to Ryan Wiebe in the 3-vs.-4 Page playoff qualifying game and was knocked out of the Manitoba men’s provincial playdowns.

“That definitely stung, especially since McEwen went on to win the title and we had him on the ropes,” Calvert said.

“Those losses in Selkirk kept us pretty hungry for this year. Since we scaled back our schedule and weren’t chasing points or trying to get into Grand Slam events, we circled the Viterra as the event we wanted to peak for.”

Calvert’s team, which includes Kyle Kurz at third, Ian McMillan at second and Rob Gordon at lead, begin their quest to reach the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier today at the Yellowhead Centre in Neepawa.

The fifth-ranked side from the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg plays Baldur’s Grant Shewfelt at 4 p.m.

Calvert says he’s excited to be playing close to his hometown and to also have fans back in the stands again for the Viterra, which wasn’t held in 2021 and took place in front of a handful of spectators at the Selkirk Curling Club last February.

“We’ve definitely been pretty spoiled in our young careers to have played in front of some big crowds in Virden, Portage la Prairie and Brandon, so last year was pretty weird to be playing with no fans around us on the ice,” Calvert said.

“We got a pretty good group of Westman players, especially from Carberry, that are going to be in Neepawa, so I expect the stands to be pretty full all week long.”

Unlike the majority of the teams throughout the country, the Calvert quartet stayed intact for the 2022-23 season, which is their fifth together.

Calvert believes that could be an advantage as the Viterra gets underway.

“The provincials are kind of a whole new ballgame compared to what you see out on the tour,” Calvert said. “You are on arena ice for the entire week and it’s a lot of games in a short period of time. It can be a bit of grind if you aren’t used to it.”

Calvert has only made the Page playoffs once at the Viterra, as he skipped his junior team to a 3-vs.-4 matchup with Jeff Stoughton eight years ago in Brandon.

In addition to last year’s run in Selkirk, his current rink also reached the final eight at the 2019 event in Virden but lost Page playoff qualifiers to Jason Gunnlaugson and Tanner Lott.

While they scaled back their World Curling Tour schedule this season, the Calvert squad earned enough Canadian Team Ranking System points during the 2021-22 campaign that they didn’t have to battle through regional bonspiels to earn a spot at this year’s Viterra.

Their best results on the cashspiel circuit were semifinal finishes at the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic at the Granite in September and the Manitoba Curling Tour Championships in Carberry in December.

“I think we’ve been a little more resilient this year,” Calvert said. “In the past, we’d start off pretty hot and play well right away, but we stumbled out of the blocks at one of our first events (in Swift Current, Sask.) and went back to the drawing board.

“Since then, we had some pretty good showings at the DeKalb Superspiel in Morris and the MCTs, so we feel like we’re back to playing our game again.”

While Matt Dunstone is widely considered to be the favourite for this week’s provincials, Calvert thinks there are several contenders to represent Manitoba at the Brier next month in London, Ont.

“There are no easy games here and I think that’s a testament to how competitive men’s curling is in Manitoba right now,” Calvert said.

“With our team, it all comes down to the preparations we’ve made beforehand. We’re going to the event trusting what we’ve done in practice. If we can get a couple of breaks to go our way, anything can happen.”

The 32-team double knockout event starts at 8:30 a.m. this morning, with eight teams advancing to the playoff round on Friday night.

The 1-vs.-2 and 3-vs.-4 Page playoff are on Saturday at 6 p.m. The semifinal is on Sunday at 9 a.m., with the final taking place at 2:30 p.m.

For the second straight year, the entire event is being streamed on CurlManitoba’s YouTube page.

• • •

The 2023 Brier field will be set after this weekend as Alberta and New Brunswick are joining Manitoba in determining their champions.

Two more spots in the 18-team event were determined last Sunday as Jamie Koe cruised to the Northwest Territories title and Kelly Knapp upset Steve Laycock in the Saskatchewan final.

That provincial playdown was highlighted by a rough showing for Colton Flasch, who failed to make the playoffs after finishing fourth at last year’s Brier in Lethbridge, Alta.

With that result, Flasch was knocked out of the race for one of the Wild Card berths at the Brier, which go to the three highest-ranked teams in the CTRS standings that haven’t qualified for the event through the playdowns.

Dunstone and fellow Manitoban Reid Carruthers are in the mix for those spots, as are Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher, Kevin Koe and Karsten Sturmay.

• • •

Jace Freeman picked up his first win at the Canadian Under-18 Curling Championships in Timmins, Ont., on Tuesday morning.

Freeman’s Manitoba 1 side — which features Elias Huminicki at third, Jack Steski at second and Rylan Graham at lead — improved to 1-2 in Pool C play with a 6-2 win over Evan Robert’s Northern Ontario 2 side.

The Virden Curling Club quartet was back in action on Tuesday evening against the Northern Ontario 1 rink skipped by Brendan Rajala. That game was in progress at press time.

Freeman is in action again today at 1 p.m. against Phillipe Jauron’s Quebec 2 squad.

In the women’s competition, Grace Beaudry’s Manitoba 2 squad from the St. Vital Curling Club in Winnipeg — which features Onanole’s Cassidy Dundas at third and McCreary’s Tessa Terrick at lead — improved to 2-1 in Pool B action on Tuesday with a 7-4 win over Emilie Padbury’s Ontario 2 team (1-3).

It was an impressive comeback triumph for Beaudry, who also curls with second Lauren Evason, as she came back from a 4-1 deficit in the final four ends.

Beaudry returned to the ice this morning for a matchup with Marlise Carter’s New Brunswick 1 side (1-2). She goes up against Claire Dubinsky’s Northern Ontario 2 squad (3-0) at 5:30 p.m.

The top four squads in each seven-team pool advance to the playoff round, which begins Thursday and wraps up Saturday.

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