Must-win for Lukowich

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/01/2016 (3761 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s Sunday afternoon and Mark Lukowich is upstairs at the Thistle Curling Club sipping on a beer. It’s a familiar ritual for the 51-year-old skip and his curling buddies; both the ideal remedy for forgetting a disappointing loss, or the perfect way to end a triumphant win.

On this day it’s the latter that brings the group together. Just moments before the first round of drinks arrived, Lukowich stuck his final shot in a 6-4 win over another Winnipegger, Troy Hamilton, to remain perfect at 7-0 in the 128th edition of the Manitoba Open — a six-day event that wraps up today.

The victory not only secured his team a spot in the finals of the Asham draw (Heather Curling Club, 7 p.m.) — the top tier in a tournament that began with 256 entries — but ultimately earned his group a berth into the Manitoba men’s provincial championships in Selkirk next month. That’s because his opponents in tonight’s final, a team led by skip and fellow Granite Curling Club member Scott Ramsay, have already punched their ticket to the provincial showdown.

“It’s been an amazing four years in this bonspiel because it’s four years in a row we’ve earned a spot (in the provincials),” says Lukowich, now a couple of tables down from his team, which includes third Stu Gresham, second Chris Chimuk and lead Kevin Wiebe.

It may be the fourth straight year Lukowich will see his name on the tournament program, but it’s been a long time since he’s had the chance to stand in the winner’s circle. In fact, a floor below where he is sitting, is a plaque honouring his 2002 Manitoba title.

“Whenever I walk in the door here it feels good,” Lukowich says of a place he once curled at regularly. “It feels like a home.”

The piece of hardware not only marks the lone provincial title in Lukowich’s career, but also a turning point. The previous year he married his wife, Jennifer, who was pregnant by the time the provincial tournament came around. A new career path coupled with the birth of his first daughter, Katy, created a new set of priorities; his family — which later grew to four with the birth of his second daughter, Julia — became his new team and his commitment to the game began to dip.

“I think there was one year where I completely didn’t curl, and there were some years I tried to curl and then just realized I couldn’t commit to compete at the level I wanted to,” he says.

Admittedly, these days, curling has taken on a more social component, but his passion for the game has never ebbed. Lukowich still plays once a week at his local club and has also taken up the role of coach for Katy, who at 14 has started to curl competitively.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“It’s getting a chance to get back into the curling clubs,” he says.

As for the chance to return as a provincial champion, well, that remains a long shot; something to worry about another day. Right now, Lukowich has his mind set on finishing what he started last week: winning a Manitoba Open title.

“It’s nice to finish a bonspiel,” he says. “If you get that far, you have to win the last game.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.