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CurlManitoba has announced the top seeds and published the draw for the 2025 Viterra Championship, the 100th Men’s curling championship, an event which pre-dates the national championship Brier competition which began in 1927.
The top five seeds include four teams ranked in the top 25 in Canada plus an unranked late entry with championship credentials.
The top seed in the ranking by the other competitors in the field is Reid Carruthers and his Granite team (Catlin Schneider, Kyle Doering, Connor Njegovan) which earned a 2024-25 CTRS berth in the Viterra Championship. The team has since been strengthened by the addition of free-agent BJ Neufeld. Carruthers and Njegovan are members of last year’s champion team but did not merit the returning champion’s entry due to only two members of that team being in the line-up. Carruthers is currently ranked #10 in the CTRS (Canadian Team Ranking System). In ten events, all out of province, the Carruthers team has qualified for the playoffs five times.
The second seed for the Viterra championship is Assiniboine Memorial’s CTRS #6 ranked Jordon McDonald team (Dallas Burgess, Elias Huminicki, Cam Olafson, William Lyburn) who earned the berth based on their 2023-24 CTRS ranking. The team has had a breakout season this year, playing in a dozen events and qualifying for the playoff round 10 times. They have won two of the four final games they have appeared in.
The third seed is Braden Calvert’s Fort Rouge team (Corey Chambers, Kyle Kurz, Brendan Bilawka) who earned a Manitoba Curling Tour berth in the championship by winning five Manitoba events this season, including the MCT championship. They are currently the CTRS #11 team.
The fourth seed is Jacques Gauthier’s West St. Paul team (Derek Samagalski, Tanner Lott, Ron Gauthier). The team was assembled as a late entry into the regional playoff and is highly regarded based upon the competitive experience of the team members. Samagalski is a six-time Manitoba champion including being a member of the 2024 champion team. Former World Junior champion Gauthier was the BC Men’s champion skip in 2022-23 and played the 2023-24 Brier with the Kevin Koe wildcard entry.
The fifth seed is Assiniboine Memorial’s CTRS #23 Brett Walter team (JT Ryan, Graham McFarlane, Hugh McFarlane) which earned their top 25 in Canada ranking despite playing a strictly Manitoba bonspiel schedule.In seven events, they qualified for playoffs six times and appeared in three finals.
The 32-team field features 17 teams from 13 rural Manitoba communities and 15 teams from eight Winnipeg clubs. There are five entries from Winnipeg’s Granite club, three from Fort Rouge, and two each from Assiniboine Memorial, Morden, Carberry, and Brandon.
There are single entries from Winnipeg clubs Charleswood, Deer Lodge, Pembina, St. Vital and West St. Paul and from rural clubs in Beausejour, Dauphin, East St. Paul, Gladstone, Hamiota, Holland, Neepawa, Portage, Steinbach, Thompson, and Virden.
While the 2025 Viterra Championship competitors will focus their efforts on winning the 100th Manitoba Men’s curling championship, curling fans in attendance will have an opportunity to celebrate past champions attending a special Reunion of Champions to mark the occasion.
The event’s opening banquet and each of the evening draw pregame ceremonies will allow spectators to celebrate the “alumni-champions”.
Notably, 1957 (the 32nd championship) champion second Don Duguid will hold the broom for the ceremonial opening rock. Duguid is better known as the skip of the undefeated 1970 and 1971 world champions and third for Terry Braunstein’s 1965 Brier champions. He also provides a direct link to the very first Manitoba champion skip, the legendary Howard Wood Sr., because the skip of the 1957 champion team was Howie Wood Jr.
In all eight British Consols, 18 Labatt Tankard, 17 Safeway Select, and six past Viterra champions will take part in the celebrations.
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/