Carruthers the team to beat at provincial level

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This article was published 31/01/2017 (3339 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a shot to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics on the horizon, but Reid Carruthers isn’t looking beyond the next great challenge for his West St. Paul curling team.

The Carruthers foursome covets another Manitoba men’s title — and the chance for redemption at the national Brier championship that comes with it. That’s all that matters to the Winnipeg skip right now.

Carruthers is pegged as the favourite to win the 2017 provincial men’s curling championship after being handed the top seed Tuesday morning at a Curl Manitoba news conference at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. 

His world-class crew of third Braeden Moskowy, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson head up the 32-team field set to compete at the championship, scheduled for Feb. 8-12 at 1,675-seat Stride Place in Portage la Prairie.

Defending champion Mike McEwen of Fort Rouge is the second seed, while the team he defeated in the 2016 final, former two-time Canadian junior men’s champion Matt Dunstone of Deer Lodge, is seeded third. A pair of Granite Club teams, William Lyburn and Jason Gunnlaugson, respectively, round out the top five.

Toss the names in a hat — and throw in another half-dozen more — because the ’17 Viterra is wide open, Carruthers said.

“We can go down the list and talk about how many good teams are in it, but my job is pretty simple — focus on what we can do, make shots, focus on the process and see what happens on (championship) Sunday,” Carruthers said.

“Over the last couple of years, there’s been a couple of young teams that have been up and coming and starting to make that turn to be really competitive at the elite level. You look at the years Dunstone and Gunnlaugson and Lyburn have had. It could be five co-favourite top seeds the way they’ve all been playing.

“I know we’re going to have to play really well. You’re not going to be able to play 80 per cent and win this tournament. We know we have to play a lot better than that.”

Manitoba’s championship team will compete at the national Brier in St. John’s, Nfld., March 4-12.

Carruthers, the 2015 provincial champion, has had a remarkable season, highlighted by a crucial victory at the Canada Cup in Brandon in early December. The team secured a berth into the 2017 Canadian Olympic Trials in Ottawa in December, which will determine Canada’s men’s and women’s representatives at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.

In all, the team qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 14 bonspiels this season and starred in North America’s impressive triumph over Team World at the Continental Cup in Las Vegas earlier this month as Carruthers made his final shot to seal the win.

Yet nothing compares to tossing granite with the buffalo crests on the line, Carruthers said, whose quartet has cashed in US$94,200 on the World Curling Tour this season, behind only Niklas Edin of Sweden and Brad Gushue of St. John’s.

“Viterra is the big event of the year for us,” Carruthers said. “The Canada Cup was a big event, but everyone wants a chance to go the Brier. So, the Viterra is one that I always put on the calendar. It’s one I always look forward to playing in.

“I expected with the year we’ve had that there was a chance we were gonna be the No. 1 seed, but McEwen, being the defending champion, if he was No. 1 seed, that’s fine. Really, what it comes down to is when we step on the ice (next) Wednesday the seeds don’t matter. It’s a matter of us doing our thing.”

Carruthers put the pieces in place for a terrific run in 2015, winning the Manitoba title before going 4-7 at the Brier in Calgary and missing the playoffs. 

Hodgson, a transplanted Albertan, said qualifying for his first Brier was a dream come true and only whets his appetite for a possible return.

“It’s the pinnacle of our game. That first time in Calgary was an amazing experience, especially in our first year together,” he said.

“It was heartbreaking last year when we didn’t perform up to our own expectations. So, it’d be a dream to represent Manitoba again.”

Carruthers was seeded second in 2015 and left a champion only to get the top seed in 2016 but lose in the semifinal to McEwen.

The McEwen foursome of third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld — eighth on the WCT money list with US$54,994 — knocked on the door for years at the provincials before finally prevailing.

“It’s nice to not have those questions from you guys and (not have) that monkey or whatever it is on our back,” Wozniak said. “We feel good. We obviously haven’t had a stellar season by any means, but as of late we’ve started to gain some momentum.”

Unlike Carruthers, the McEwen team — which finished 8-3 in round-robin play at the 2016 Brier in Ottawa but eventually lost the bronze-medal game to Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario — is still searching for an Olympic trials berth.

The team needs to keep accumulating points to move up the Canadian Team Ranking System standings, and a victory in Portage would help the cause.

“We’re in a points race for our Olympic trials spot. We’ve put ourselves a little bit behind the eight-ball with having a bit of a slow season. Getting to the Brier would be huge for that, there’s a lot of points available,” Wozniak said. “That’s important, that’s as much a goal of ours as winning the province.”

On Tuesday, CurlManitoba and Viterra also announced the renewal of the title sponsorship agreement for an additional four years — carrying through the 2021 curling season.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell