Calvert and McDonald in showdown for Olympic trials berth

There will be two Manitoba men’s teams in the hunt for an Olympic berth.

While Matt Dunstone’s seat in the Canadian men’s curling trials is already secured, he found out Friday that he will be joined by another team from the Keystone Province.

Assiniboine’s Jordon McDonald and Braden Calvert of Fort Rouge are on the doorstep of the biggest win of their respective careers, facing off in the Canadian men’s pre-trials finals in Wolfville, N.S..

The winner advances to next month’s trials in Halifax, and the winner of that tournament will have earned the right to don the Maple Leaf at the Olympic Winter Games in Italy this winter.

“I think it speaks volumes to just how many good teams reside in Manitoba, and how competitive our provincials are every year to go to the Brier,” said Calvert. “They’re a team we really respect and think they’re great guys, and looking forward to getting to go to battle with them.”

The 22-year-old McDonald is on a remarkable rise since graduating from the junior ranks. McDonald, lead Cam Olafson, second Elias Huminicki and third Jacques Gauthier are ranked No. 9 in the country and making their pre-trials debut.

The youthful foursome, which entered the pre-trials as the No. 1 seed, went 5-2 during round-robin play.

McDonald edged Ontario’s Scott Howard 5-4 in a semifinal thriller Friday morning to earn a spot in the final. The Manitoban trailed 4-3 entering the ninth end but stole a point in consecutive ends to end the contest.

In Game 1 of the best-of-three finals on Friday evening, McDonald defeated Calvert 10-5 in eight ends. He will look to seal the deal on Saturday (noon CT). If not, Game 3 goes Sunday at 9 a.m. CT.

McDonald and Calvert have faced off several times throughout the quadrennial, including in the playoffs of last year’s provincial championship, which Calvert won en route to his finals appearance. Their lone meeting this season came in the pre-trials round-robin when Calvert ran away with an 8-4 victory.

“I think we’re pretty excited with how we’ve been able to play here the last couple days,” said the 30-year-old Calvert, whose team has played in two Manitoba Curling Tour events this season but won them both, going 11-0 during that stretch.

“Maybe just losing our opening game of the week to (Félix) Ménard kind of just (shook) some rust off. Since then, I feel like we’ve played really well, and hope to keep it going.”

This territory is just as new for Calvert as it is for McDonald. Four years ago, Team Calvert qualified for the pre-trials for the first time but didn’t get a sniff of the playoffs after going 2-5 during the round robin.

This time, they went 5-2 to finish atop the standings and earn a bye to the finals. It’s a more experienced group this time around, one that believes it can compete with any of the nine teams that have a shot at reaching the Olympics.

“We kind of joked (about) it maybe even (Friday) morning. I guess we have a one in nine chance to go to the Olympics. And hopefully, after this weekend, we’ll have a one and eight,” Calvert said.

“It’s really neat just to make the trials and surround yourself with the very best in Canada — would be definitely pretty special to us, and an opportunity of a lifetime. It’s going to be a large task, obviously, to beat McDonald twice, because of what a great team they are, but looking forward to the challenge.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca