Brier in Brandon will bring home big names

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This article was published 11/02/2019 (2664 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — This really was a no-lose situation for a curling hotbed like Brandon.

A couple of high-profile ex-residents, Mike McEwen and William Lyburn, drew guns in the Manitoba men’s curling final, with a chance to get to the showdown of Canada’s best at the Brier next month — in Brandon.

Indeed, the stars aligned in Virden, just 75 kilometres west of the Wheat City, for organizers of the national championship, scheduled for March 2 to 10 at Westoba Place.

Team Carruthers, featuring McEwen at skip and Derek Samagalski, a newcomer to the city, at second, is headliner. The squad defeated the Granite’s William Lyburn, who immigrated from Scotland to the Brandon area when he was a teen.

“For sure, it’s great for us,” Nate Andrews, vice-chairman of facilities with the Brandon Brier host committee, said in an interview prior to the championship finale.

“Mike’s from here, and he and Reid come with their own following. They’re well known, the crowd loves them, they’re going to have a good week out here at the Brier.”

McEwen’s former third, B.J. Neufeld plays the same position now for Kevin Koe of Calgary. They’ll be at the Brier, too, as Team Alberta, after beating Ted Appelman in Sunday’s provincial final.

Vying for the wild-card spot on the Friday before the start of the regular Brier draw will be Toronto’s John Epping and Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher. Brad Gushue returns to defend the title he won in his hometown of St. John’s, N.L., two years ago retained last March in Regina. Brad Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, will once again represent Northern Ontario.

In Saskatchewan, former Winnipegger Matt Dunstone lost the provincial final there to Kirk Muyres.

Other Brier participants confirmed at press time include B.C.’s Jim Cotter, Ontario’s Scott McDonald, New Brunswick’s Terry Odishaw, Newfoundland-Labrador’s Andrew Symonds, Nova Scotia’s Stuart Thompson, Prince Edward Island’s John Likely, Quebec’s Martin Crete, Northwest Territories’ Jamie Koe, Nunavut’s Dave St. Louis and Yukon’s Jon Solberg.

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Manitoba’s second-largest city won the right to represent the annual winter classic in the fall 2017. Andrews said the past 16 months have sailed by for the army of nearly 500 volunteers.

“We’re just 14 days away from making ice now. We had our big walk-through meeting with all our big departments and everybody’s like, ‘This got real in a hurry.’ So, everybody’s getting really excited. It’s been a lot of fun watching the rest of the provinces play out to see who’s coming,” he said.

“Ticket sales have gone really well, sponsors have really been impressed and wanted to get involved with us, so right now everything’s shaping up really nicely.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell