Different spin on curling at Manitoba Open

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This article was published 17/01/2018 (3015 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Open, Winnipeg’s fun-filled curling showcase, kicks off tonight with a suitably festive opening ceremony at the Charleswood Curling Club.

The traditional start to the bonspiel will have all the trappings of previous openers, but for the fourth consecutive year, it comes with a twist.

“During the opening ceremonies, we have three contestants trying to draw to the button to win a $50,000 car,” Curl Manitoba executive director Craig Baker said, noting festivities begin at 5 p.m., with the opening games slated for 6 p.m. “That will be fun.

“It’s a little bit of a different spin on the traditional opening ceremonies for curling, and to me, that’s some of the fun of what this event’s all about, right? It doesn’t take a way from the tradition because we still have the ceremonial rocks… bagpipes, and I think there will be some drums.”

In three previous years, there was no winner declared in the draw-to-the-button contest. A total of 238 teams are registered for the full bonspiel, which wraps up Monday night, with finals slated for 7 p.m. A 64-team half-spiel runs from Friday through Sunday. Asham Curling Supplies, the Winnipeg Free Press and Nott Autocorp are sponsoring the three main events.

While the social aspect is the overriding theme of the event, there is a more serious, competitive angle. There are three remaining berths available for the upcoming 32-team field at the Viterra provincial men’s championship, slated for Jan. 30 to Feb. 4 in Winkler.

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One of the teams looking for a provincials berth is the Trevor Loreth squad from the Granite. Loreth, whose team had missed the playoffs in seven previous trips to the provincials, was a big story in Portage last year and reached the semifinals before being eliminated by eventual champion Mike McEwen.

McEwen’s team gains an automatic berth into the Manitoba showdown, while joining the field is 2017 runner-up Reid Carruthers, who qualified as a top point-getter on the Canadian ranking system.

The classy field in Winkler also includes: Travis Graham (NorMan); Rob Fisher (Parkland); Brandon Radford (Parkland); Cale Dunbar (Westman); Steve Irwin (Westman); Terry McNamee (Westman); Randy Neufeld (Central); Ryan Thomson (Central); Richard Muntain (Eastman); Tanner Lott (Interlake); Travis Bale (Winnipeg); Daniel Birchard (Winnipeg); Tyler Drews (Winnipeg); Andrew Wickman (Winnipeg); David Bohn (Winnipeg); Riley Smith (Winnipeg); Brett Walter (Winnipeg); Kelly Marnoch (Spring berth); Braden Calvert (Fall berth); Julien Leduc (Fall berth); Jason Gunnlaugson (MCT champion); William Lyburn (MCT ranking); Dennis Bohn (MCT ranking); Reid Carruthers ; Pat Simmons (CTRS 2016-17); J.T. Ryan (CTRS 2016-17); Graham Freeman (With a berth-Brandon); and Sean Grassie (With a berth-MCT).

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14