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The Linden Christian team of coach Wendi Dunstone (from left), Jordan Loewen, Aiden Penner, Jeff Bernier and Matt Dunstone celebrate with their championship banner.

Their curling backgrounds are vastly different, but four Linden Christian School students came together to form the best high school boys’ team in the province this season.

The Wings defeated Warren Collegiate 7-2 in the final of the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association provincial championship in Dauphin on March 5.

It was the third provincial championship banner for the private school on Wilkes Avenue, and the first to come in a sport where all schools, big and small, compete at the same level.

The Wings were led by Grade 10 skip Matt Dunstone, an experienced curler on the competitive junior scene who called a defensive game and made key shots when his team needed them. Third Jeff Bernier, the only Grade 11 student on the team, hadn’t curled since he was 12 but was talked out of retirement by Dunstone.

Second Aiden Penner, a Grade 10 student, has been a weekend curler for a few years. And lead Jordan Loewen, also in Grade 10, won a provincial championship in the eighth game of his life.

The foursome had five or six hour-long practice sessions leading up to their zone qualifier and quickly came together on the ice.

"After the first couple of games we played, we started to click pretty good," said Dunstone, a Charleswood resident who said the championship was one of the biggest achievements of his young  career.

It wasn’t until the Wings scored a last-rock victory over Carberry in the A-side semifinal that Dunstone and his teammates started to seriously think about returning to Winnipeg with a banner.

Facing a half-buried rock on the button, Dunstone played a delicate tap-back to win the game.

"We were told they were one of the teams to beat," said Bernier, a Whyte Ridge resident who took a while to get his balance back after giving up curling for club volleyball.

"It was coming down to the wire, and in the last end Matt made a clutch shot. It gave us a feeling that we had the ability to win this whole thing."

Penner said a big part of the team’s success was Dunstone’s game-calling.

"Matt came out with an awesome strategy," said the Linden Woods resident. "He helped us out a lot, and our shots were on pretty much all tournament long."

For Loewen, a St. Norbert resident, the bonspiel was as much a learning experience as it was a competition.

"I just kind of floated along and did what I was told," he said, "and all of a sudden we beat some really good teams and had a chance (to win the event). I never had any expectation of that, especially in my first year."

The rookie curler was as surprised by the difficulty of the game — and its physical demands — as he was by the team’s success.

"I’m used to playing hockey and basketball and I thought (curling) would be a bit of a joke and not much work," he said. "Little did I know that I would be doing a lot of sweeping… I got blisters on my hands. It was not what I expected."

Winning a provincial championship isn’t an everyday occurrence at Linden Christian, and the players have been receiving plenty of recognition for their accomplishment.

"I’ve been at the school since Grade 2," said Penner. "It’s really special. We haven’t really had a chance to do anything like this before."

avi.saper@canstarnews.com