Horgan edges out Calvert to capture second DeKalb Superspiel

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This article was published 04/12/2023 (998 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Morris brings out the best in Tanner Horgan.

For the second time in his young career, the skip from Sudbury, Ont., has captured the DeKalb Superspiel.

Horgan took down Carberry’s Braden Calvert 4-2 Monday evening at the Morris Curling Club to take home a cheque for $7,000.

Horgan also won back in 2019.

This victory was with a first-year team based out of Northern Ontario featuring his brother Jake at third, second Ian McMillan, and lead Scott Chadwick. They arrived in the southern Manitoba town after winning the Curl Mesabi Classic in Eveleth, Minn.

“I’ve always played well in Morris. I got two victories and a semifinal, and those are the three times I’ve made it down for this spiel,” said Horgan, 25.

“This team lately is on a really good run. We have 11 wins in a row, and we won the last event we played in, too, so we’re feeling really good going through the rest of the year.”

The Horgan brothers had to regroup in the off-season as veterans Darren Moulding (skip) and Colin Hodgson (lead) decided to step away from competitive curling. The foursome played one season together, winning Northern Ontario provincials before reaching the championship round of the 2023 Brier.

“I think going into this season we knew it was going to be a different feel. It’s definitely a much younger team, our average age is only 28 years old,” said Horgan.

“I think going into this season we knew it was going to be about how Jake and I could function together in the back end and how we could learn, get better and develop. It’s been a number of years since we played the back end together, and the first few events we had to work out the kinks, but now we feel like we’re back in the good ol’ days of juniors.”

This isn’t a rebuilding year; they feel they can make noise at nationals now.

“We’re definitely peaking at the right time,” said Horgan, who played out of Manitoba for two seasons with Colton Lott, Tanner Lott, and Kyle Doering.

“We’re definitely peaking at the right time now and we’re feeling very confident going into provincials.”

Calvert, 28, had an impressive showing at the 16-team event with victories over two of the top teams from Winnipeg in Ryan Wiebe and Jordon McDonald en route to the final.

Calvert — who had McMillan as a teammate the past five years — is also rolling with a different lineup this year as he and second Kyle Kurz joined forces with Corey Chambers (third) and Brendan Bilawka (lead).

“Those are obviously two matchups we’re expecting in February when we’re at the Viterra, and they’re really good teams in their own right. It was nice to play (Wiebe and McDonald) and play them tough,” said Calvert.

Monday’s loss went down to the wire as Horgan connected on a raise takeout on his final stone to score two.

Calvert has played in the Dekalb since 2013 but is still looking for a first-place finish.

“Yeah, Team Horgan has a great team, and you can except them to do quite well at their provincials if they keep playing the way that they did,” said Calvert. “It was fun to play Ian, our old teammate, and we wish him the best of luck.”

The women’s bracket in Morris featured 24 teams but none of the ones from Manitoba made it to the final day of action. Switzerland’s Xenia Schwaller earned the top prize of $10,500 for taking down Edmonton’s Serena Gray-Withers 6-5. Schwaller is a team on the rise as they finished in fifth place at last season’s world junior championship.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

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