Bobcats thrilled by Superleague opportunity

When Cale Dunbar contacted Brandon University men’s curling head coach Clayton Robins about joining the Taylor Jackson Financial Westman Superleague of Curling for the 2026-27 season, Robins jumped at the opportunity.

“I was texting (the team) in minutes to see if Wednesday night was available,” said Robins. “When I was in university back in the (1980s), it was almost unheard of to have something in the evenings, but now it seems like the new norm with all these young students … that they have a lot of evening commitments, so it’s not easy for us to find nights that work for the entire team.”

Luckily, it worked out that four members of the team were available, and the team grabbed the 14th and final spot in the Westman Superleague.

Led by skip Logan Strand, the BU team consists of third Colton Graham, second Owen McFarlane, lead Jonathan Craig Penner and fifth Tristan Purkess. As returning members, Strand, McFarlane and Craig Penner are very familiar with one another, while Graham and first-year Purkess are new recruits.

“In the university setting, you have a lot of turnover with people graduating, so having me and two other returning members, being able to grow on that for another year is going to be big,” said Strand.

Because of school commitments, Purkess will be lead in the Westman Superleague since Craig Penner cannot make it to the games.

Craig Penner will get reps on Thursdays, when the team plays men’s league at the Riverview Curling Club. The arrangement gives everyone more opportunities.

“They’re both getting a lot of curling, which is great,” said Robins. “We have a very busy schedule at Canada West (Championship). We likely are facing eight games in three days again, so it’s a pretty heavy schedule and being able to have a fifth player there that can sub in when someone needs rest … is going to be huge for us.”

This year, the Canada Western Championship takes place in Edmonton from Jan. 15 to 18. Joining the Superleague gives the team more reps in preparation for what will be stiff competition, considering two of their opponents at the Canada West championship are ranked top five in the country at the university level.

“Being able to play against teams of this calibre is going to prepare us very well,” said Robins. “Canada West is a very strong division in university curling … any chance we get to play teams of high calibre is going to prepare us well for that event.”

On Wednesday evening, the BU team got its first taste of Superleague action. They weren’t eased into things, immediately facing reigning champion Dunbar and his team of Chris Campbell, Kyle Sambrook and Shayne MacGranachan.

After a scoreless first end, the experience of Dunbar and his team took over, slowly building up a 2-0 lead over the second and third ends. The dam broke in the fourth end, and BU called an end to the game after six ends with Dunbar up 6-0.

“The scoreboard wasn’t kind to us, but we played against a really good team that’s been together for a really long time,” said Robins. “(We) had a couple of shots that, if they they’d gone another way, the scoreboard would have been totally different … I really like what I see.”

While the loss was disappointing, Strand feels that it’s a great opportunity for the team to learn.

“Playing against an elevated field of play will help us, and we can learn from the other teams here,” said Strand. “These other teams have lots of experience that we can pull from.”

The major hurdle facing the BU team at this point isn’t their technical skills; it’s getting on the same page and understanding how the different members operate. This is doubly true for the new recruits.

Skills like communication can only be gained through experience. Prior to Dunbar’s invitation to join the Superleague, the BU men’s curling team expected to play one game a week. Doubling their weekly games gives them more reps to more quickly establish the patterns they want to cement for the season.

“(Our team) does a lot of things technically correct and we’re in a good position to take our communication and our rock management to the next level,” said Robins. “That bodes really well for how (we) are going to do for the rest of the season.”

Next Wednesday, the Bobcats face fellow newcomers Justin West and his team of Austin West, Travis Dunbar and Russell Levandoski.

Both teams will have the opportunity to get to 1-1 after losing their opening matches.

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com

 

DRAW 1 (Oct. 7) 

Samagalski 11, Kempthorne 1

Payette 7, Gregory 3

Dubar 7, Brandon University 1

Stewart 8, Anderson 1

Marnoch 8, West 1

Irwin 8, Bridges 2

Kinnaird 8, Calvert 4

STANDINGS 

Dunbar 1-0

Irwin 1-0

Kinnaird 1-0

Marnoch 1-0

Payette 1-0

Samagalski 1-0

Anderson 0-1

Brandon University 0-1

Bridges 0-1

Calvert 0-1

Gregory 0-1

Kempthorne 0-1

West 0-1