Stewart back to defend Superleague title

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This article was published 20/10/2023 (897 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff Stewart is already learning how tough it is to defend the Westman Superleague of Curling title.

Just two weeks into the 2023 season, he has surpassed his 2022 loss total of zero. The Gladstone product didn’t let the perfect run inflate his ego or raise his team’s expectations.

“The last two winners before us did really poorly the year after, so don’t expect much again this year,” said Stewart, who went undefeated against western Manitoba’s stiffest curling competition a year ago.

“It’s very unexpected to go undefeated. Usually, you expect a couple of losses during the year so that was a very nice feeling.”

The squad, including third Eric Zamrykut of Brandon, second Austin Mustard and lead Geoff Trimble, looks a little different this season. Mustard suffered a knee injury in the summer, so Jason Vinnell has taken his place.

They made it to Friday afternoon at the 2023 Viterra Championship, their best-ever finish at the men’s provincial playdowns and just two wins away from reaching the top eight.

Duane Payette was the one to finally take Stewart down in Draw 2 of Superleague action at the Brandon Curling Club on Wednesday night, stealing two in the fourth end and scoring three in the seventh to win 7-3.

Parity and quality across the board are up, according to league president Cale Dunbar, who’s also one of four skips sitting pretty at 2-0 so far.

The league dropped down to eight teams, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many were worried the number wouldn’t come back up. It has, while the average age appears to trend downward.

“That’s great to see,” Dunbar said. “(Virden’s) Jace Freeman, great example. He’s rocking it on the junior tour right now and this is another competitive avenue for him.

“It’s good to see Braden Calvert’s in here as well.”

Freeman took over for his dad, Graham, and added the former world junior champion Calvert to call the game. They have Jace’s brother, Brooks, at second and Brandonite Rylan Campbell at lead.

There are a few other shakeups and one brand new team, both to the league and to playing as a foursome.

Hamiota’s Travis Gregory joined with his brother, Wes, at third and Rivers product Quinn Robins at second with Hamiota’s Dale Little playing lead.

They started their season with their first official game together on Wednesday, falling 9-3 to Shawn Taylor.

It’ll be a work in progress but Gregory is certainly excited to be part of a high-calibre league.

“It’s good. We’ve played them the odd time in some bonspiels and we need some learning experience,” Gregory said.

“What better place to learn than playing here with the big guys and seeing what we can do?”

The team is getting back into the game after playing more as juniors. That’s where the skipper met Robins, but work and life dragged them away from the ice over the years.

All four work in the farming community and decided they have enough time to make the weekly trek to the Wheat City and play some berth bonspiels to try to steal a spot at the Viterra.

“We can do it. We can make some shots, I think, as long as we have confidence and lots of learning to get through this league,” Gregory said.

“We like to jump feet first into everything.”

The league is otherwise status quo, save for one rule change. It has adopted the no-tick rule seen at high-level competitions last season. Guards touching the centre line cannot be “ticked” sideways to open a path to the button until five rocks have been thrown.

The Superleague teams who reached the 2023 Viterra played with the rule for the first time there. Since it’s here to stay, Dunbar said it makes sense to implement it.

“We decided to put it in the league this year just to give guys some opportunity to play it before zones,” Dunbar said. “It is going to be in regionals this year. We try and stay on top of those types of things.”

The Superleague regular season runs through Dec. 20, with playoffs in January 2024.

The 2024 Viterra is set for Feb. 7-11 in Stonewall.

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