Steve Irwin, Cale Dunbar aim to build on success at Viterra

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This article was published 07/02/2024 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steve Irwin felt the whole spectrum, from imposter syndrome to the sting of a Cinderella story ending during the last Viterra championship.

He’s back to rewrite the ending at this year’s provincial men’s curling championship in Stonewall, which starts today.

“We’re not supposed to be there, for sure,” Irwin said of his top-four finish. “Last year, we beat (finalist) Reid (Carruthers) on Friday morning so that was a confidence builder.

“Then we were actually up quite a bit on Saturday and let that one slip away so that one really hurt a lot. That would have got us into the 1-1 game, which was huge. Then we’d get to play Sunday so that one still stings a lot, I think about that a lot.”

Team Irwin, one of two Brandon Curling Club-based squads along with Cale Dunbar, represents the unique magic of the roaring game. Once a year, anyone who qualifies through regionals or various bonspiels across the province can go toe-to-toe with the men you watch on TV at Grand Slam events.

Give or take, there are three Goliaths and 29 Davids in a 32-team, modified double-knockout tournament to decide who represents Manitoba at the Montana’s Brier in Regina next month.

Occasionally, David wins, like Irwin did last year with a 7-5 extra-end victory over Carruthers, who’d have to take both gloves off to count how many times he’s won the Viterra.

Irwin held a 7-1 lead on Carruthers the next day with a spot in the 1-vs.-2 Page playoff game up for grabs before falling 10-8.

Irwin lost the 3-versus-4 game 8-2 to eventual champion Matt Dunstone. Still, not bad for a group of guys who play weekly in the Taylor Jackson Financial Westman Super League of Curling with the odd tournament here and there.

“Dunstone and Reid were in it last year and by far the best teams there, but knowing we can actually hang with them a little bit is good,” Irwin said, adding the excitement of Viterra week never fades.

“Not at all. It’s definitely the highlight of the year. Even the excitement leading up to it, walking into the arena and knowing you get to play on arena ice is always something we look forward to.

“The ice, it’s hard to explain to anybody that hasn’t played it how good it is and how good the rocks are. You can make shots you can’t make on curling club ice.”

Team Irwin had one shakeup this year as lead Travis Saban stepped away from the team, which includes Travis Brooks and Travis Taylor. Travis Gouldie joined for the Super League, but for the main events, Irwin decided it was OK to break the team’s three-Travis minimum when veteran Daley Peters showed interest in joining.

Peters, who played third for former Brandonite William Lyburn on his run to the Viterra final in Virden in 2019, stayed in that position as the other two shuffled to the back end.

“Daley was actually the person that came to mind because I’d played against him since junior,” Irwin said. “The guys said … if we had an opportunity to get somebody like him, they’d be willing to play wherever.

“He’s won two juniors and he’s always in deep in these events. Brings big weight capabilities, really good strategy, a lot of experience, it definitely helps a lot for us.”

Irwin opens the Viterra today against Greg Todoruk of Dauphin. He said he’s played the veteran skip a handful of times, both in Dauphin’s bonspiel and elsewhere and he won’t be an easy out.

“They’re going to be dangerous,” Irwin said. “I know they like to junk it up a lot. First day you like to catch on to the ice and I feel like there’s going to be a lot of rocks in play with those guys so we’ll try to see if we can handle that.”

The winner plays either Jace Freeman of Virden or Greg Melnichuk of the Granite Curling Club.

Meanwhile, Dunbar enters the provincial championship on a high after capturing the Super League title. The team, including third Shayne MacGranachan, second Kyle Sambrook and lead Chris Campbell, didn’t lose a game with a full lineup until well after regionals.

“We’re feeling as confident as we ever have, that’s for sure,” Dunbar said. “Everybody’s confident right now. We get in the hack and know we’re going to make our shot.”

Dunbar has circled this week on his calendar for two decades now. He noted the massive number of teams back then made it tougher to qualify than it is now, but that hasn’t weakened the field when it comes down to the final 32.

“Manitoba’s an anomaly across Canada. We’re the only province that plays off our provincials this way,” Dunbar said.

“I think it’s fantastic we still have 32 teams interested in vying for the provincial title and arguably 32 very competitive teams.”

Dunbar plays Andrew Irving of the Fort Rouge Curling Club in the first round. They have clashed since back in their junior days and Dunbar said they’re a similar team, playing a few bonspiels, but far from the busy schedule of some of the top seeds.

The winner gets one of those in No. 4 Jordon McDonald, one of the best young squads in the province, if not the country.

“Every game at the Viterra is a tough game. There’s no easy ones out there,” Dunbar said. “We get up to play them the same as we always do. We’ve played Jordon McDonald before, we’ve given him a run. I think we can definitely do it again and sometimes maybe experience will give us the edge we need.”

Dunbar chuckled that the most exciting event of the year is also the toughest one to pack for. Anyone could last as long as five days, but someone has to bow out on Day 1 with two losses.

Just a quarter of the field gets to play through Friday evening. So for most, it’s a short week, but it’s a fun one for everyone.

“The excitement level is always about the same. It’s an enjoyable event to play in and it’s fun to get to that high level of competition,” Dunbar said.

“It’s definitely a grind and I would love to see the grind through until Sunday.”

Other Westman teams in the field include Gladstone’s Jeff Stewart, Baldur’s Jesse Janz, Holland’s Jeremy Sundell, Dauphin’s Glenn Toews and Hamiota’s Travis Gregory.

Curling note: No Saskatchewan rink has captured the Brier since Rick Folk’s team in 1980. In less than a month, Brandon University Bobcats curling alum Mike McEwan’s rink will have a chance at ending that drought on home ice in Regina after his team won the Saskatchewan title to earn a trip to the Montana’s Brier.

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