VITERRA: Westman rinks drop openers at provincials

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This article was published 10/02/2022 (1384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SELKIRK – There’s little room for error in the double-knockout format of the Viterra Championship.

When you haven’t played a whole lot of games in the lead-up to the event as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can make the first games extra challenging.

That’s been the case for Gladstone’s Jeff Stewart, Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch and Virden’s Graham Freeman, as they all fell to the ‘B’ event of the provincial men’s curling championship after opening day setbacks at the Selkirk Curling Club.

“We really haven’t played a whole lot in the last two months, other than the Westman Regional and the Brandon Super League,” Freeman said. “We had hoped that the Brandon men’s bonspiel was going to happen, but when everything got shut down again for tournaments (due to the COVID-19 protocol in place throughout the province), we knew that we were going to be a bit rusty coming into this.

“With that said, we’re just glad to actually be here after everything that has gone on. CurlManitoba has done a great job of getting this event off and all of the teams are pretty happy to be playing again.”

Freeman’s rink, which includes Brooks Freeman, Jace Freeman, Dwayne Barkley and Kevin Barkley, got off to a slow start in their opening-round matchup with reigning provincial junior champion Jordon McDonald and his squad from the Deer Lodge.

After falling behind 6-1 after six ends, Freeman clawed his way back to within a point and had a chance to lie two on his last without hammer in the final frame, only to see his takeout attempt wreck on a guard.

“We didn’t believe what we were seeing early on and we got caught under-icing ourselves,” said Freeman, who faces Mark Lukowich of the Fort Rouge at 8:30 a.m. today. “It seemed warm out there early on and we found that the rocks were curling really hard, but in the last half of the game it seemed to cool off and the rocks really stayed true.

“Jordon and his team got a handle on things better than we did early on, but I thought we played a lot stronger there in the second half. We had some opportunities and if we had made another shot or two, we might have snuck that one out. If we play like we did in the second half for a full 10 ends in our next game, we should do well.”

Stewart, who is joined on his foursome by Eric Zamrykut, Austin Mustard and Geoff Trimble, dropped a 7-6 decision to Brett Walter of the Assiniboine.

That contest nearly went to an extra end as Stewart blasted his final shot into a sea of rocks around the four-foot on his final stone in the 10th.

He had shot stone but a measurement ended up in Walter’s favour, which put the Gladstone rink into a must-win game tonight against the loser of an ‘A’ event matchup between Corey Chambers and McDonald.

“That hit on my last was really all I had,” Stewart said. “We just skinned by the guard that was out front to make the hit, but it didn’t quite work out for us.”

Like Freeman, Stewart felt that his team got off to a bit of a slow start as they trailed 4-1 at the fifth end break.

“As we learned the ice a little bit more, I thought we did a much better job of carrying the game against them,” said Stewart, who played a dozen games with his side this season leading into the provincials.

“We have some confidence now and I think that puts us in a better place for tomorrow. I just need to make sure I’m putting the broom in the right spot early.”

Marnoch, who calls the game while Bart Witherspoon throws fourth stones, dropped a narrow 6-5 battle with William Lyburn’s quartet from the Granite in Winnipeg.

Wednesday’s game marked just the third game of the year for the rink, which includes Branden Jorgensen, Dena Smith and Justin Reischek, as scheduling conflicts and cancelled bonspiels caused havoc to their original plans.

“The cashspiels that did happen this year were just a little too early for the farmers on our team,” said Marnoch, who is facing Ryan Thomson of Morden this morning.

“Lyburn’s always a tough team to go up against, especially when you add a guy (Scott McDonald) who has been to the Brier a couple of times. I think you could tell that we haven’t played a lot this year in the first half as we got into some trouble in a couple of ends, but I thought our back half of the game was really good.”

In the morning draw Wednesday morning, JT Ryan (Assiniboine) beat Evan Martin (Fort Rouge) 6-2, Daniel Birchard (Pembina) doubled up Dean North (Carman) 8-4, Ryan Wiebe (Fort Rouge) won a 9-3 contest over Jack Hykaway (Pembina) and Grant Shewfelt (Baldur) scored three points in the 10th to pick up a 9-6 triumph over Randy Neufeld (La Salle).

The other lunchtime contest saw Chambers beat Lukowich and Riley Smith (Assiniboine) defeat Thomson by scores of 8-3.

Wednesday’s late afternoon action was highlighted by a steal of six by Richard Muntain of the Granite in his 10-4 romp over Burntwood’s Sam Antila.

Jacques Gauthier’s Assiniboine squad started off their week with an 8-3 victory over Kyle McCannell (Pilot Mound), while Sean Grassie (Deer Lodge) prevailed in a 7-4 contest against Justin Richter (Beausejour).

The evening draw – which saw Walter facing Braden Calvert (Assiniboine), Shewfelt taking on Jason Gunnlaugson (Morris), Birchard squaring off with Colton Lott (Winnipeg Beach) and Hykaway in a win-or-go-home matchup against Martin – was in progress at press time.

Mike McEwen’s West St. Paul squad open up their provincial slate this morning as they cross paths with Muntain.

EXTRA ENDS: Sunday’s provincial final, which will be held at 2:30 p.m., will not be televised on Sportsnet as it has in previous years. The championship contest will be streamed on CurlManitoba’s YouTube page.

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