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With the RME Women of the Rings completed Sunday in Pilot Mound, the Manitoba championship focus now turns to Stride Place in Portage la Prairie as that community gets set to host the 2025 Viterra Men’s Championship.
Thirty-two teams from across Manitoba will compete in the February 4-9 event with, depending on the team, the goal or the dream of joining 99 previous teams in the Manitoba curling history book.
To wish them all good luck, and to re-live their glory days, about 45 past Manitoba champions will be in attendance at the opening banquet as part of a CurlManitoba Reunion of Champions. These “alumni-champions” represent all four of Manitoba curling’s men’s championship sponsorship eras. In addition, many of them will return for the evening draws where they will be recognized during the pre-game team introductions.
The “alumni-champions” will include over a dozen Canadian champions as well as nine World champions: Don Duguid (1970, 1971), Dave Romano (1972), Kerry Burtnyk-Jeff Ryan-Rob Meakin-Keith Fenton (1995), Ken Tresoor (1996), Reid Carruthers-Garth Smith (2011)
Eight British Consols era champions, led by the legendary two-time world champion Don Duguid, who won his first Manitoba championship in 1957 (68 years ago) playing second for Howie Wood Jr., will be on hand to greet this year’s competitors at the opening banquet. Most of them will return to be a part of the Wednesday evening championship opening ceremony.
Seventeen Labatt Tankard era champions, seventeen Safeway Select/Championship era, and six past Viterra champions will be at the Reunion of Champion banquet. Those numbers include four champions who won two different championship trophies (John Usackis & Dave Romano – British Consols & Labatt Tankard, Kerry Burtnyk & Ken Tresoor – Labatt Tankard and Safeway Select, Reid Carruthers & Derek Samagalski – Safeway & Viterra Championships).
The Labatt Tankard champions will also be part of the Thursday evening pre-game ceremony while the Safeway and Viterra past champions have been invited to be part of the Friday evening pre-game acknowledgements.
Eleven-time Manitoba champion Jeff Stoughton unfortunately has a schedule conflict for the Tuesday banquet but will be among the Safeway champions attending the Friday evening draw.
The group of six past Viterra champions includes three (Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski, Connor Njegovan) who will compete in this year’s Viterra championship. Carruthers, who also won four Safeway Championships, will be coached this year by two-time Safeway Select champion Rob Meakin. Greg Melnichuk, a 2005 Safeway Champion, will compete as one of the final Manitoba Open qualifiers.
This year’s Reunion of Champions and Viterra Championship celebrations will also include the announcement of the 2025 Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame induction class. With the support of the Portage Host Committee, Stride Place will host the unveiling of a new mobile Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame display which incorporates all 250+ individuals and teams who have been inducted to date. There will also be a museum display including many unique items from the Manitoba Curling Museum available for the viewing of curling fans at the championship.
Tickets for the 2025 Viterra Championship, Manitoba’s 100th Men’s Curling Championship, are available on-line at https://specialevents.strideplace.com/
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The complete 2025 Viterra Championship team list is available at https://curlmanitoba.org/viterra-championship/team-personnel/