Manitoba skip finally strikes gold

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This article was published 06/04/2011 (5308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been a long climb to the top for Chris Sobkowicz.

The 57-year-old from Fort Richmond is the only man to ever skip a Manitoba rink in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, and now, after seven trips, he can finally call himself a national champion.

Sobkowicz — along with third Dennis Thiessen of Sanford, second Melissa Lecuyer of Transcona, lead George Hornung of Westwood and fifth Don Kalinsky of the Maples — defeated the host team from Alberta, 8-7, in the final of this year’s event on March 27 in Edmonton.

It was an emotional win for the skip, who didn’t win a single game in his first three trips to the national championship before coming home with bronze medals in each of the last three years.

“I remember just saying, ‘I don’t believe this. We’ve done it,’” he said after the team was honoured at its home club, the Assiniboine Memorial, during last week’s opening ceremonies of the Canadian Masters Championship.

“We almost fell out of our chairs. It was such a release of tremendous emotion after all the hard work we’ve put in since September, and peaking at the right time.”

Having been to six previous championships, Sobkowicz knew how tiring the week could be for the players and was determined to bring a team that would be as strong in the playoffs as it was in the opening draw.

“After seven days you wear down,” he said. “As disabled athletes, there are special issues that make it tough on the body. We had a fitness regimen, and there was no burnout this year.”

The Manitoban team went 7-2 during the round robin, earning a spot in the three-versus-four page playoff game. The goal all along was to make the playoffs, but Sobkowicz said the team hadn’t yet played its best, and was somewhat disappointed not to earn one of the top two seeds.

Facing a B.C. team that had won six national championships in a row, Team Manitoba raised its game and came away victorious. That led to more good play in a semifinal win over Nova Scotia and in the final against Alberta.

Sobkowicz said the whole team played to its potential, but he was particularly impressed with Lecuyer, a rookie who had never curled before this season.

“Mel had played ringette and hockey before she got injured, and she knew what competition was all about,” he said. “In the playoffs she took it up a substantial level.”

With the participation numbers in wheelchair curling still quite small, the winners of the nationals do not represent Canada in the world championship. Team Canada is selected by the Canadian Curling Association from a pool of the best players from across the country.

Sobkowicz, who was stricken by polio in 1953 and spent most of his life as an avid curling fan, has been a part of the national team, playing lead on the 2009 world championship rink.

But the win in Edmonton, he says, was the most special of his career.

avi.saper@canstarnews.com