Fort Rouge wins provincial championship

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This article was published 20/03/2020 (2318 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Andrew Wickman’s team from the Fort Rouge Curling Club fought off tough competition to win the Manitoba men’s curling club championships in mid-March.

The team of Wickman, lead Cam Barth, second Craig Strand and third Jeff Tarko, won six out of their seven games at the competition, held March 12 to 15 in Melita, Man.

“The competition was the strongest we’ve ever seen,” Wickman said. “The field this year was super tough. Kyle Csversko’s team from Neepawa was strong, and we went up against my good friend Trevor Loreth from the Granite Curling Club in the final. It was a bit odd. We each stood up for the other at each other’s weddings. So, we had to look at each other, and say, ‘Well, both of us want this’. ”

Wickman’s team won the final by a score of 2-1 over Loreth’s team. “That game had really tight scoring. We got away with it, with an extra end. They just missed a run-back,” Wickman said.

The Wickman team lost just one game in the round-robin portion of the tournament, to Mark Lowdon’s team from LaSalle.

The competition featured 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams, competing for the right to represent Manitoba at the 2020 Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships to be held in Ottawa, Ont., from Nov. 22 to 28.

This is the third year Wickman’s team has entered the club championship, which began in 2009. The women’s event was won this year by Marlene Lang, Pamela Kok, Jackie Hendrickson and Megan Paul of the St. Vital Curling Club.

Wickman, who has enjoyed every one of his games at the Viterra and Safeway Select championships over the years, said he really enjoyed this most recent competition.

For more information, see curlmanitoba.org and look for the men’s club championship results.