Reigning Manitoba Mixed champion Corey Chambers will defend his title in CurlManitoba’s Chicken Chef Mixed Championship March 30-April 2 at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club. Lisa McLeod (at third) and Jolene Callum (at lead) return with Chambers to defend. They are joined by Julien Leduc, throwing second stones.
Fifteen teams from across Manitoba will compete in the championship.
The field includes three-time champion skip Sean Grassie and his Deer Lodge team. Grassie won the Manitoba title in 2009, 2012, and 2014. He won the Canadian Championship in 2009 and with Allison Nimik, went on to win Canada’s first ever World Mixed Doubles medal.
Manitoba’s 2020 Mixed champion skip, Braden Calvert (Carberry), will also compete in the 2023 championship.
Notable among multiple former Manitoba champions, across many categories, are three-time Mixed champions Kerri & Kyle Einarson. They won the championship in 2013 with Terry McNamee, 2015 with Jared Kolomaya, and in 2017 with Derek Samagalski. This year they will join forces with skip Ryan Wiebe and lead Jennifer Clark-Rouire on a team out of Gimli.
Including Calvert and Wiebe, this year’s Chicken Chef Mixed Championship includes five teams from outside the Perimeter Highway.
Sam Antila will bring his team to Assiniboine Memorial from Thompson’s Burntwood Club. Steve Irwin’s Brandon team and Zach Wasylik’s Stonewall team are the other teams from outside Winnipeg.
Pembina (Jack Hykaway, Neil Okumura) and Fort Rouge (Kyle Kurz, Travis Bale) will represented by two teams. Fort Garry (Chambers), Thistle (Cory Anderson), Granite (Cyrus Brandt), Deer Lodge (Grassie), and East St. Paul (Dan Grant) each have one entry in the competition.
Justin Richter will skip the lone entry from the host Assiniboine Memorial.
Play begins at Assiniboine Memorial at 7:00PM on Thursday, March 30th. The final game is set for 6:00PM on Sunday, April 2.
