VITERRA: Former Brandonite Lyburn, McDonald join forces

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This article was published 10/02/2022 (1587 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SELKIRK – Shortly after William Lyburn found out Daley Peters would be stepping back for the remainder of the 2021-22 curling season, he found himself in Brampton, Ont. for a mixed doubles event with his daughter Mikaylah.

While there, he crossed paths with former Ontario men’s curling champion Scott McDonald, who was competing with his fiancée Laura Neil.

A light bulb went off in the former Brandonite’s head.

“I had forgotten that Scott hadn’t been playing with a team on a full-time basis this year,” Lyburn said.

“I immediately asked him if he had played for anyone in the Ontario playdowns, which he hadn’t, and then we ended up chatting throughout the weekend.”

Those initial conversations led to this week at the Viterra Championship in Selkirk, where McDonald is the third for Lyburn’s rink from the Granite Curling Club in Winnipeg.

“It was a chance encounter in Brampton but I had obviously played against Willie before so I knew what I was getting with those guys and everything came together really quickly,” McDonald said.

“I was pretty confident that we could be a good team and I honestly wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could win the thing. I know Willie’s hungry to get the Bison on his back and I want to help him do that.”

The squad, which also features Kennedy Bird, Wade Ford and Bryce McEwen, opened up the event at the Selkirk Curling Club with a 6-5 win over Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch on Wednesday afternoon.

Their next game is at 12:15 p.m. today against Riley Smith of the Assiniboine Memorial.

“I’m very familiar with Kelly and the boys and we knew that would be a tough game right off the bat,” Lyburn said. “I like the fact that we were challenged right from the start. That’s going to set the tone for the rest of the week here.”

“I thought we played a pretty patient first game,” McDonald added. “Obviously when you are starting at an event like this, you are trying to figure out the rocks and the ice conditions pretty quickly, so communication was key for us in this one. We’re all learning together and we made some pretty big shots.”

McDonald made a name for himself on the national scene three years ago as he captured the Ontario men’s curling title and posted a 6-5 mark at the Tim Hortons Brier in Brandon.

Following a semifinal loss to Glenn Howard at the 2020 provincials, McDonald returned to the Brier last year.

He filled in for Jamie Murphy as the skip for Nova Scotia in the Calgary bubble, where they went 4-4.

When McDonald and his rink elected to move in a different direction last year – which led to Tanner Horgan becoming the skip – he found himself waiting to see what opportunities were out there.

“I wasn’t just going to play for anyone and I was fine with taking the year off to rest the body a little bit, as these last couple of years were really busy,” McDonald said.

“Everything sort of clicked when William I started talking though and it turned out to be the right opportunity at the right time.”

After the Lyburn rink officially announced that McDonald would join them around Christmas time, the original plan was to have their first event together at the MCA Bonspiel in Winnipeg last month.

However, with COVID-19 protocols preventing that event from taking place, the team adapted on the fly so that they could have some ice time with their new player.

“I had sold Scott on playing in the MCA so he already had his flights booked and everything,” Lyburn said. “When all that changed, we were pretty fortunate to have Jordon McDonald, Ryan Wiebe and Riley Smith come out and do some exhibition games with us.

“Those practices and games proved to be really beneficial for our entire team. Scott had put in a ton of work back in Ontario and the rest of the guys did the same here, so that helped us to get off on the right foot.”

At this point, the Lyburn and McDonald partnership is just for the rest of this season, with the future plans to be discussed at a later date.

“We honestly haven’t talked about much besides this weekend at the moment,” McDonald said. “There’s always a lot of jockeying for the next move for teams ahead of the next Olympic cycle, but I haven’t thought about that yet, I’m just focussed on what’s going on here in Selkirk.

“However, if we win this weekend, I think we might have a long-term deal.”

» lpunkari@brandonsun.com

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