Winner: Neufeld team finds cure for snakebite

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This article was published 09/11/2021 (1742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FOR the first time since 2016, La Salle’s Randy Neufeld is Manitoba’s senior men’s curling champion.

In a meeting between two undefeated sides, Neufeld defeated Dauphin’s Ray Baker 7-4 at Pembina Curling Club on Tuesday afternoon in the final of the 19-team event. The championship tournament was originally slated for February but was postponed owing to the pandemic.

“It feels fantastic. We’ve kind of been snakebitten in the finals the last number of years so it feels great to win again. It’s awesome,” said Neufeld’s second, Peter Nicholls. The skip preferred his teammate be interviewed.

This is the third time Neufeld, third Dean Moxham, Nicholls, and lead Dale Michie have won the provincial senior crown as they had won two straight before Brandon’s Murray Warren won back in 2017. The champs have been playing together for seven years.

“Any time you get a chance to represent Manitoba and put the buffalo on your back is super exciting. As seniors, you have played for so long and to win is just so gratifying. I’m ecstatic. It’s been a fun run,” said Nicholls.

In semifinal action earlier in the day, Baker beat Richard Muntain by a score of 5-2 and Neufeld handed Dave Boehmer, who had won the event the previous three years, a 7-3 loss. Neufeld took down Dean Smith, Neil Okumura, and Muntain throughout the week to reach the final.

Baker and his unit featuring third Jason Yates, second Dwight Bottrell, and lead Terry Gudmundson are still searching for their first buffalo jacket together. Baker, the president of Curl Manitoba, won a provincial mixed doubles title in 2015 with Lisa Menard.

“Yeah, we kind of got a monkey off our backs because Dave beat us three years in a row, twice in the final. So, it was nice to beat Dave again,” Nicholls said.

After their 2015 victory, Neufeld went on to win the Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Edmonton and finish in second place at the 2016 World Senior Curling Championships. Neufeld lost the final of the 2016 Canadian senior championships in Nova Scotia. He’ll have another shot at national gold next month as Neufeld has secured a berth to the 2021 Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Dec. 6-11.

“You can’t go there without the goal to win, right? But we’re also not the youngest in the senior category anymore. I’m sure there’s some younger guys,” Nicholls said with a laugh.

“But you know what, it’s just a privilege to go and if we go out and play like we did this week, we’ll be OK. Then hopefully we’ll have a good run at it and represent Manitoba well.”

Baker got out to a 2-0 lead after the first end, but Neufeld went on to score five straight points over the next three ends to make it 5-2. Baker made things interesting with singles in the fifth and sixth ends before Neufeld slammed the door shut in the seventh with a pair.

“It’s early in the season and we just seem to be throwing it real well. Our aches and pains didn’t catch up with us. Everyone seemed to get onto the ice and we had our draw weight really well, made lots of key draws, and we just played pretty solid,” said Nicholls.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31