Virden’s Freeman Continues Impressive Run at Viterra
Perhaps looking forward to next year when Virden will host the 2019 Viterra Championship, Graham Freeman and his Virden foursome have strung together an impressive three wins in a row to reach the 2018 event’s “B” Side qualifying games. On Friday’s noon draw, Team Freeman defeated Darryl Friesen (St Vital) 11-3 and will return to the ice at 4pm to play Daniel Birchard (Pembina).
Freeman lost his opener to Travis Bale (Fort Rouge), who has already qualified for the playoff round. Following the first loss, the Virden team eliminated former world junior champion Braden Calvert and #3 seed Jason Gunnlaugson in back-to-back draws on Thursday before winning his third on the Friday noon draw.
In other noon draw games, Terry McNamee (Brandon) beat Julien Leduc (Granite) 7-2; junior champion JT Ryan (Assiniboine Memorial) defeated Kyle Foster (Arborg) 7-6; and, in an extra end, Steve Irwin (Brandon) was a 6-5 winner over Tyler Drews (Fort Fouge).
In the “B” qualifiers, four teams from the Winnipeg Assiniboine Memorial club will be in the ice. Ryan will play clubmate Dennis Bohn; McNamee will take on David Bohn (also Assiniboine Memorial); and Irwin will play William Lyburn (also Assiniboine Memorial).