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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Oh Deer! This kid's going to the show
Colin Kurz's Deer Lodge team headed to provincials
Photos by joe bryksa / winnipeg free press Cole Peters of West St. Paul follows his shot intently at Deer Lodge Curling Club Friday night (above).
Who's already in
Teams which have previously qualified for the Canola Junior Provincial Championships, Jan. 3-7 at the Brandon Curling Club:
Junior Men
Kyle Doering, West Kildonan
Matt Dunstone, St.Vital
Tanner Lott, Petersfield
Austin Mustard, Portage
Daniel Birchard, Pembina
Sean Davidson, Portage
Curtis Kaatz, Springfield
Jordan Smith, East St.Paul
Carter Watkins, Swan River
Steffan Adamchuk, Swan River
Braden Calvert, Carberry
Cole Peters, West St.Paul
Jt Ryan, Assiniboine Memorial
Randy Greig, Deer Lodge
Colin Kurz, Wildewood.
Junior Women
Kayla Curtis, La Salle
Selena Kaatz. St.Vital
Shannon Birchard, Pembina
Alyssa Vandepoele,Victoria
Rachel Burtnyk, Assiniboine Memorial
Carly Angers, Miami
Rebecca Lamb, Stonewall
Jesse Iles, The Pas
Norman Kylin Alm, Dauphin
Raina Syrnyk, Gilbert Plains
Jennifer Curle, Minnedosa
Janelle Schwindt, Brandon
Beth Peterson, Victoria
Abby Ackland, Victoria
Kristy Watling, Victoria
joe bryksa / winnipeg free press Brooklyn Meiklejohn of Pembina Curling Club eyes the broom as she releases a shot.
Matt Dunstone from St. Vital Curling Club has qualified for the Canola Junior Provincial Championships.
The smile on Colin Kurz's face was as as wide as the Deer Lodge Curling Club and bright enough to light up the west end of Winnipeg.
With a 6-4 victory over Jordan Smtih of East St. Paul Friday night, the young 15-year-old skip and his Wildewood Curling Club foursome have punched their ticket to the 2013 Canola Junior Provincial Championships, Jan. 3-7 in Brandon.
That's the big prize and there were a whole pile of hugs and high fives in the immediate aftermath of Friday's big win.
But in the here and now, Kurz's win also launched his squad -- including Weston Oryniak, Ryan Lemoine andBrendan Bilawka -- into the A Final of the Tim Hortons Christmas Youth Bonspiel against Matt Dunstone of St. Vital.
"I'm pretty sure this is a berth (Curl Manitoba officials confirmed as much later Friday night). We were told that through the point system that we were in for sure now," said Kurz. "This is pretty cool. Maybe I'll get to play my brother's team in the provincials."
And here's where this story takes a unique twist.
Kurz's brother Kyle is a member of Kyle Doering's squad -- the defending Manitoba champions who already have a berth in next week's provincials -- and there is also another brother act in play.
Derek Oryniak is part of Doering's squad and his younger brother Weston, get this, is Colin Kurz's third.
"We struggled in the first part of the season, but Christmas has always been good to us -- we won the last two Christmas bonspiels we were in and now we're in the finals of this one."
Asked how he may celebrate, Kurz just shrugged and grinned.
"I'm going to go home and sleep. Hopefully we can win again tomorrow."
Dunstone, meanwhile, emerged with a thrilling 7-6 victory over Cole Peters of West St. Paul to advance. The Dunstone quartet already has its berth in next week's provincials.
"This is good preparation to expose us to other junior teams who also have their spot," said Dunstone. "We don't want to go into Brandon looking flat, because that's possible for teams that don't play junior events. We try to play in as much juniors as we can."
Dunstone himself is also on a bit of a roll. Last March he skipped an entirely different quartet to the Manitoba High School Athletic Association championship out of Linden Christian School.
"All I can tell you," said Dunstone, "is I have been surrounded by some pretty great curlers. Those guys make it easy for me."
Both A-event finals in the Christmas Youth Bonspiel, a holiday tradition in these parts, go today at Assiniboine Memorial -- the junior women at 4 p.m. followed by the junior men at 7:30 p.m. One junior men's and one junior women's berth remain up for grabs heading into the final day of the event.
In junior women's action, Jennifer Curle of Minnedosa advanced to the final with an 8-6 victory over Brooklyn Meiklejohn of Pembina. She'll meet Christine McKay of Wildewood, who advanced with a 9-3 win over Meagan Grenkow of Assiniboine Memorial.
ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 29, 2012 C4
History
Updated on Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 11:06 AM CST: adds fact box
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