Fargo team wins Brandon Bonspiel

Tim Hodek’s Fargo foursome walked out of the Riverview Curling Club as champions of the Manitoba Curling Tour Curling Cup on Sunday by beating Braden Calvert’s squad 6-1 in a short four-end contest.

“(We) came in thinking we’d have a good shot to at least make the playoffs, and kind of build off what we did last weekend in St. Paul (Minn.), making it to the semis,” said Hodek. “The boys played well all weekend and ended up with a win.”

Hodek and his team of Evan Workin, Josh Moore and Nathan Parry are based out of North Dakota, though they are no strangers to competing in Canada.

“Winnipeg isn’t too far from us, so we’ve been up there,” said Hodek, adding that the travel is worth it if they can get a win.

The 10-team event lasted from Friday until Sunday and featured high-level curlers from across western Manitoba and beyond.

That included Calvert, who represented Manitoba alongside his team at his first Brier in February after winning provincials.

“It was fun to get back together with the guys after the off-season,” said Calvert. “We kind of called it a soft launch to the year and came out, had some fun and got some games in.”

Calvert and his team usually start their year at an event in Winnipeg, but since they were busy at that time decided the Curling Cup would make a good substitute.

“It was really good,” said Calvert about the event. “We didn’t know what to expect; we haven’t curled here for a little while, and the ice was amazing, and they did a great job organizing and hosting the teams.”

On their way to the final on Sunday, Calvert played fellow 2026 Brier attendee Derek Samagalski of Carberry, who represented Yukon.

Hodek and Calvert met in the finals on Sunday afternoon with MCT points, a cash prize and pride on the line. Having played each other in juniors, Hodek knew Calvert would be a tough opponent to beat.

“(A) little bit of a different level playing Braden Calvert,” said Hodek. “(They’ve) been to a lot of events and done well.”

The game started off with team Calvert grabbing a point in the first end, but from there Hodek and his team completely took over.

Curling is a game of inches, which was made clear in the second end.

Calvert’s final throw caught the edge of a guard, leaving room for Hodek to slide his final rock in and snag four points to take a commanding 4-1 lead after two ends.

“It didn’t really go our way,” said Calvert at the end of the match. “All weekend those draws were curling nice across the centre line and that one kind of ran on us, and it opened the door for them to make a shot for four.”

Team Hodek grabbed another point in the third end to extend the lead to 5-1, putting Calvert in a very tenuous position going into the fourth end.

Ultimately, Calvert backed out of the contest after the fourth end when Hodek once again scored a single point to make the lead 6-1.

“You have to be on your best to beat them, and I guess luckily today we were,” said Hodek about the victory.

As the winner, Hodek’s team left Brandon with $1,900 and points from the event, which will transfer over to the American system.

While Calvert and his team didn’t win, they earned $1,400 for finishing second, plus 22.5 points toward provincial berths.

“There are two points spots available in the U.S. to qualify for nationals,” said Hodek. “(We’re) trying to stay ahead of guys behind us and maybe catch one of the guys in front of us so we can get a leg up and get in earlier, so we don’t have to go to the qualifier in December.”

After back-to-back events, the team plans to take a break and get some practice in before competing in the Fargo Cash Spiel in mid-November.

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com