Carruthers calls it a career

Reid Carruthers, a nine-time provincial champion, announced on social media Wednesday that he is retiring after 20-plus years in competitive curling.

Team Cameron dissolving at the end of curling season

With the Olympics now in the rearview mirror, the dominoes are already starting to fall in the Canadian curling scene.

Team Kate Cameron announced early Monday that they will be parting ways at the conclusion of this season.

Cameron, third Briane Harris, second Taylor McDonald, and lead Mackenzie Elias lost the Manitoba provincial semifinal last month to Beth Peterson to miss out on a trip to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Cameron, a 34-year-old from New Bothwell, originally formed the team ahead of the 2023-24 campaign alongside McDonald, Elias, and former third Meghan Walter. They proved to be an immediate national contender by bringing home bronze from the 2024 Scotties.

Wesmen fall short in Game 2 against Dinos

It can be easy to forget that the Winnipeg Wesmen — for as talented as they are — are still a young team comprised of many first-time starters.

Friday night had many of the highs that the team has come to deliver on countless occasions in the second half of the season, but ultimately too many lows and a painful reminder of the squad’s inexperience as the Wesmen watched their lead disappear in what would’ve been a series-clinching set in Game 2 of the Canada West women’s volleyball play-in series.

The Wesmen, who had battled back after losing the opening set, held an 8-5 lead in the fifth set over the Calgary Dinos as the teams switched sides. What happened from there can be chalked up to naïveté.

The Dinos quickly knotted the frame at 8-8 and, following a Wesmen timeout, went on to win seven of the next 10 points to complete a thrilling and bitter 3-2 (25-19; 22-25; 22-25; 27-25; 15-11) comeback victory at Duckworth Centre.

Fact File: U.S. Olympic team did not use Tate McRae song to ‘troll’ Canada

A video that supposedly showed Team USA walking out to a Tate McRae song during the Milan Cortina Olympics opening ceremony went viral on Instagram over the weekend. The video was generated with the Sora AI platform, as a watermark that briefly appears on the video shows, and it includes inaccurate flags, flag-bearers and clothing. The account that posted the video has a history of generating AI fakes.

THE CLAIM

A video posted to Instagram Friday claimed to show Team USA "trolling" Team Canada at the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Olympics. 

In the video, athletes walk through a stadium while the song "Just Keep Watching" by Canadian singer Tate McRae plays in the background. 

Bisons double down

The Winnipeg Wesmen and Manitoba Bisons entered Friday night at different places in the standings, with the former battling to keep its playoff hopes alive and the latter looking to continue trending toward another bid at a national championship.

Getting the call to the Manitoba curling hall

Derek Samagalski expected the worst when he answered his phone on the morning of Jan. 2.

The caller ID read Peter Nicholls — a name that didn’t register immediately — and when Nicholls said he was with Curl Manitoba, Samagalski went from curious to uneasy.

“I thought our team did something wrong in provincials, like I’m getting a smack on the wrist, because I’m like, ‘Why is Curl Manitoba calling me mid-event?’” Samagalski recalled.

Samagalski was in Rivers coaching Team Kate Cameron at the Manitoba women’s curling championship. A call from the host organization at that time would normally mean something was wrong.