Manitoba team wins mixed curling crown

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This article was published 10/11/2018 (2533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The mix proved perfect for Colin Kurz and his Manitoba crew this week.

Kurz skipped his team to the 2019 Canadian mixed curling championship Saturday afternoon at Winnipeg’s Fort Rouge Club — the province’s first mixed title in a decade.

Red-hot Team ‘Toba, which calls the Assiniboine-Memorial Club home, downed Nova Scotia 7-4 in the championship finale. Kendal Thompson skips the Halifax team. 

Kurz, with third Meghan Walter, second Brendan Bilawka and lead Sara Oliver, stole two points in the fourth end to seize command with a 4-1 lead, and was ahead 5-4 with hammer in the eighth and final end. Kurz executed a wide-open hit with his last rock to seal the deal.

Earlier in the day, Manitoba posted a decisive 9-1 triumph over Ontario’s Wayne Tuck in one of two semifinals. Nova Scotia downed Quebec 5-3 in the other.

“We were hoping for this but it’s not something you expect, so it feels really good,” said Kurz. “Right now, I don’t think it’s really sunk it yet. We have 11 months until we get to go to the worlds, so getting to call yourself Team Canada for that long is pretty cool, so that’ll be fun.”

A site for the 2019 world mixed championship, likely in October, has yet to be revealed by the World Curling Federation.

“We’re waiting to find out but we’ll be pretty excited to go anywhere. Playing here at home this week was awesome, a great experience, but somewhere that isn’t home would be just another cool experience for us,” Kurz said. “So, whether it’s in Canada again or Europe, we’re going to enjoy that experience. It’ll be fun either way.”

Just last month, Ontario’s Mike Anderson skipped his Canadian squad to the ’18 world title in Kelowna, B.C.

Quebec defeated Ontario 7-6 in an extra end to take the bronze medal Saturday afternoon.

It’s rather inconsequential but Manitoba’s launch earlier this week wasn’t without a few glitches. The hosts opened with 1-2 record in their seven-team pool, heightening the pressure to string together wins just to make the championship round.

And they did, winning three of their next four games to complete the round-robin 4-3 and carry on with the rest of the ‘top eight’ of the 14-team field. Kurz then guided the quartet to three straight triumphs – including an 8-7 extra-end victory over Nova Scotia on Friday night – to make the semi-finals.

“That wasn’t the best you can have. We had a tough schedule to start (Quebec, Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan), and we also didn’t play a crazy amount as a team before so it took us a couple of games to get into it,” said Kurz. “We started playing a little better as a team and it got more believable that we could pull it off and make run.”

Manitoba finished the week with a 9-3 record, going out in style with five consecutive wins.

Kurz’s victory represents Manitoba’s ninth Canadian mixed title and the first since Sean Grassie skipped his team to victory in 2009.

Supportive Manitoba fans were close to the action in bleachers alongside the sheet, and stacked up behind the glass. Kurz said the team didn’t feel the pressure of the moment. 

“I did not have to make very many difficult shots with those three playing so well in front of me. It was really impressive,” said Kurz, who is following in his mother’s footsteps. Lynn Fallis-Kurz won national mixed titles with skip Jeff Stoughton in 1988 and 1991. “We tried to treat the final as just another game. After you throw your first rock, you kind of forget that it’s a national final and you’re more focused on just making your next shot.”

Kurz and Bilawka wore Manitoba colours at last season’s national junior men’s championship and won bronze with skip J.T. Ryan. Oliver, meanwhile, is a two-time provincial junior champ.

Walter, just 16, was the youngest athlete in the field. Only recently, the WCF altered its regulations to allow athletes younger than 18 to participate in the world mixed championship.

“We had a meeting with one of the Curling Canada representatives and he was saying the rule just changed, and I am able to go to worlds. That kind of made my heart stop for a minute,” Walter said. “I had no idea even coming into nationals there had been an age limit at one point. If I couldn’t go, I would have been so sad.”

It’s the second year in a row the province has played host to the national mixed. Anderson’s team prevailed a year ago in Swan River. 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell