Calvert holds off McDonald to remain perfect at men’s curling championship

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This article was published 07/02/2025 (597 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Braden Calvert executed a routine takeout in the 10th end to stave off Jordon McDonald’s late comeback attempt with a single point and slide away with an 8-6 victory in the opening playoff round of the Manitoba men’s provincial curling championship at Stride Place in Portage la Prairie on Friday evening.

Calvert’s team out of Fort Rouge, the third seed in the tournament, remained perfect at 4-0 and will play Sean Grassie of Deer Lodge this morning with a spot in the championship bracket on the line.

Eight teams remain in the Manitoba playdowns through three days, and each proved how difficult it will be to win through the weekend as four hotly contested games went down to the wire in the first round of the playoff bracket.

Grassie scored two to outlast Brandon’s Steve Irwin 6-4. Irwin will face the second-seed McDonald this morning. The winner will live to play another game and the loser goes home.

Assiniboine’s Brett Walter, the fifth seed, also remains unblemished after a 7-6 triumph over Jeff Stewart of Gladstone. Stewart will play an elimination game against fourth-seed Jacques Gauthier, whose three-man team out of West St. Paul fell 5-4 to reigning provincial champion and top seed Reid Carruthers.

Carruthers, who is also undefeated this week, will face Walter next, with a chance to advance to the championship bracket.

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Today’s playoff draws will go at 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. before the first round of the championship bracket begins at 6 p.m.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

Joshua Frey-Sam
Reporter

Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh.

Every piece of reporting Josh 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.