Paul Scinocca and his Charleswood team (Ed Barr – 4th, Paul Armstrong, Joel Newbury, Gregg Melnyk – 5th, Coach Don Nelson) and Jennifer Clark Rouire – Fort Garry (Karen Klein – 4th, Susan Baleja, Raunora Westcott, Coach Howard Restall) have won CurlManitoba’s 2026 Senior Championships at Assiniboine Memorial.
In the final of the Strathcona Trust Senior Men’s championship, the Scinocca team came from behind to defeat former champion Murray Warren – Deloraine (Jim Renwick, Ray Tomiak, Terry Warren) for the second day in a row. The final saw Team Scinocca trailing 5-2 after five ends. They scored a single on the sixth, stole three on the seventh and watched Warren slide by their shot stone with his last stone hit for the win coming home.
On Sunday, in their Page 1-1 Playoff game, they were trailing Warren by the same 5-2 score after six ends. A deuce followed by a steal of one on the home end and on the extra end, gave the Charleswood team their berth in the final. At the same time, former champions Dave Boehmer (Petersfield) and Randy Neufeld (La Salle) faced off in the Page 2-2 game. Boehmer trailed by three after four ends but the game was tied 3-3 coming home when Neufeld made a last stone hit to win.
Neufeld was then eliminated by Warren in their semi-final game.
Warren and Scinocca had finished on top of their round-robin pools with 7W-0L records. Neufeld (6W-2L) and Craig Nichol-Stonewall (5W-2L) finished second and third behind Scinocca. Boehmer (5W-2L) and Kevin Paramor-Arden (4W-3) earned the other two playoff positions behind Warren.
It is the first Manitoba championship for Scinocca, Barr and Newbury. Paul Armstrong won the Manitoba Masters title earlier this year.
In the Pharmasave Senior Women’s Championship, the Clark-Rouire team was up two coming home over Darcy Robertson – Fort Rouge (Karen Fallis, Maureen Bonar, Barb Mehling). The Fort Garry team was lying three buried on the home end when Robertson attempted her slim-chance final stone. The final score was 6-3.
In the Sunday evening Page 1-2 game, Robertson handed the Clark-Rouire team their first loss after a perfect 7W-0L round-robin to earn the spot in the provincial final. The Fort Garry team dropped into the semi-final where they defeated Marlene Lang (St. Vital). The Lang team had beaten former champion Kim Link in the Page 3-4 game.
Team Robertson had finished the round-robin in second place with a 6W-1L record. Team Lang and Team Link had tied for third with 4W-3L records.
Three members of the Fort Garry team have won previous Manitoba titles at various levels. Jennifer Clark-Rouire won the Manitoba Mixed in 2015, 2017 & 2024, Raunora Westcott won the Manitoba Scotties in 2010, 2011 & 2017, and Susan Baleja was a member of the Club Champions top team in 2025. It is the first championship win for Karen Klein.
The Scinocca and Clark-Rouire teams will represent Manitoba at the Canadian Seniors in the fall of 2026.
