Manitoba will have a new Men’s curling champion when the Bunge Championship final game ends on Sunday in Selkirk.
Defending champion, and #1 seed, Reid Carruthers and his Granite team were eliminated from the competition Saturday afternoon by Kelly Marnoch and his Carberry foursome. Although there are members of the three remaining teams who have won Manitoba championships at the Mixed, U-18 and Junior Men’s levels, to date none of the remaining competitors have earned a trip to the Canadian Men’s Championship Brier.
Those three remaining teams include Braden Calvert-Heather (Corey Chambers, Kyle Kurz, Brendan Bilawka, Alternate Rob Gordon), Jordon McDonald-Assiniboine Memorial (Jacques Gauthier, Elias Huminicki, Cam Olafson, Coach Bryan Miki), and Brett Walter-Assiniboine Memorial (Julien Leduc, Graham McFarlane, Hugh McFarlane).
Calvert won the Page 1-2 playoff game 8-7 Saturday evening over McDonald. The previously undefeated McDonald foursome led 5-3 at the mid-game break but gave up five points over the next four ends to trail 8-6 coming home. Facing a McDonald stone on the button, Calvert made a near perfect freeze with his final stone on the home end. McDonald was unable to do anything with it and scored just a single point.
Team Calvert advances to Sunday’s 3PM Bunge Championship final.
Team McDonald drops into the 9:30AM semi-final against Team Walter who ousted Kelly Marnoch-Carberry in the Page 3-4 game when the Winnipeg team ran them out of stones in the tenth end for a final 8-6 score.
The Marnoch foursome earned their spot in the Saturday evening game with their win over Carruthers. Team Walter’s Page 3-4 game berth came from a Saturday afternoon victory over Steve Irwin-Brandon.