Calvert looking for path back to top

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This article was published 14/11/2015 (3856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Braden Calvert may be the reigning world junior men’s curling champion but he’s not resting on his laurels this season.

The 20-year-old Carberry native has new players making up his front end this season — Connor McIntyre and Colin Kurz are replaced Lucas Van Den Bosch and Brendan Wilson, who aged out —and he’s treating it as a brand new journey. That’s not to say Calvert, who lives in Winnipeg to attend the University of Manitoba, doesn’t have high goals.

He would love to win a third-straight provincial and national junior championship this season, but he refuses to look too far ahead.

McIntyre and Kurz “bring a lot of competitiveness and a lot of skill obviously,” Calvert said. “They’re just real competitors out there and want to get better each and every event.

“Manitoba’s very competitive and you just want to get better each event so you’re peaking when provincials hits.”

Kyle Kurz remains at third, but he has been sidelined until recently with mononucleosis. That forced the newcomers to move up a position while a temporary player joined the squad.

The team has done well despite that challenge. Calvert has won $2,050 and is ninth on the Manitoba Curling Tour standings with 60 points. He also has secured a spot at the provincial junior men’s championship, which will take place from Jan. 5 to 10 in Rivers, after topping Derek Oryniak 8-2 for the second berth at a bonspiel in Stonewall in October.

Calvert is in Brandon this weekend for the Sun Life Financial Junior Challenge — a cash bonspiel that features top men’s and women’s teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota and North Dakota — and he hopes it acts as a springboard for the rest of the season.

“We looked at this part of our schedule and we want to have a good showing in Brandon,” he said. “Morris is our next one and we want to have a good one there. It’s all about getting better and peaking at the right time.”

Calvert is off to a good start at the Sun Life. He leads his pool with a 2-0 record after beating Hayden Forrester 6-5 on Friday and a 7-3 victory over Brayden Stewart of Maryfield, Sask., late Thursday night. He has secured a spot in the championship playoff round.

Westman’s other teams are in decent shape as well. Shayne MacGranachan of Brandon and Quinn Robins of Rivers are both 1-1 heading into their final pool games today. In the women’s event, Kaitlyn Payette leads her pool at 2-0, while fellow Brandonite Kahli Wedderburn is 1-1. Jennifer Curle, who’s orignally from Minnedosa but is playing out of Winnipeg, is 1-1 in her pool.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the championship quarter-finals on Saturday evening. The finals are set for Sunday at 3 p.m.

Although Calvert is focused on junior curling, he would also love to qualify for the provincial men’s championship for the second straight year. Calvert, who placed fourth last year, hopes to earn an automatic berth to the Viterra Championship through the MCT standings; if not he’ll enter regional playdowns. His team isn’t available to play in the MCT championship in Dauphin due to final exams.

Calvert is also considering entering the university ranks this season and representing the University of Manitoba.

Curling consumes so much of his life and it has added another year to his schooling. However, Calvert hopes to graduate with an agribusiness degree in April.

As for his plans after that, he hasn’t thought too much about it.

“I try not to (think about it),” Calvert said. “I still like to be a kid at heart and don’t like to look too far into the future.”

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