It is exactly forty curling seasons since a team from the legendary Strathcona Curling Club made headlines in Manitoba curling. It was in 1981 when Bruce Hudson skipped a Strathcona team to the Manitoba Seniors title.
It was the last Manitoba championship for the club which, with Granite and Thistle, had been the basis of the early years’ legend of Manitoba curling.
Now in 2020, Strathcona’s Gordon Hudson 1928 and 1929 team has moved to the top of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame and Museum’s People’s Choice voting for the Most Notable Team in Manitoba curling history.
A surge of support over the past weekend moved the Hudson team to the top of the rankings. Gimli’s Kerri Einarson team, which had led the voting since the start of the fund-raising project, dropped back into second position.
With about three weeks left before the MCHoF&M’s official ranking of the MOST NOTABLE 25 Teams will be announced, there has been considerable movement in the group of teams included in the People’s Choice top five a week ago.
Kelly MacKenzie’s 1995 team, Manitoba’s first World Junior Women’s Champion team, remains the third ranked while Terry Braunstein’s 1958 high school team which lost the Brier final has dropped from #2 to #4. Jennifer Jones and her 2014 Olympic Gold Medal team have moved to #5 from #8.
Current ranking of the previous top five is:
#1: Gordon Hudson – Strathcona 1928 & 1929 (was #10)
#2: Kerri Einarson – Gimli 2020 (was #1)
#3: Kelly MacKenzie – Deer Lodge 1995 (was #3)
#4: Terry Braunstein – Granite 1958 (was #2)
#5: Jennifer Jones – St. Vital 2014 (was #8)
#6: Andrew Wickman (Wild Card nominee) – Fort Rouge (was T#12)
#7: Kerry Burtnyk – Assiniboine Memorial 1995 (was #4)
#8: Braden Calvert – Deer Lodge2014-15 (was #6)
#9: Don Duguid – Granite 1970-71 (was #5)
The complete listing of the MCHoF&M’s Most Notable 25 teams plus the Wild Card nominees can be found at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/manitoba-curling-hall-of-fame-museum-inc/p2p/most-notable-teams
By making a donation to support the work of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame and Museum in the name of one of the named 25 teams, or a Wild Card choice, curling fans can ‘vote’ for that team in the People’s Choice Rankings. The committee’s official ranking of the Most Notable 25 will be announced in mid-December.
