Pride on the pebble: Keystone Rainbow Curling League celebrates 20 years

Curling associations across the country are struggling to retain members — and then there’s the Keystone Rainbow Curling League. Manitoba’s 2SLGBTQ+ curling league started two decades ago with 18 teams, and today that number has exploded to a record-high 45.

Dunstone and Homan win men’s and women’s finals at PointsBet Invitational

CALGARY - Rachel Homan's domination on the Canadian women's curling scene continued on Sunday afternoon.

One day shy of the one-year anniversary of the last time she lost to a Canadian opponent, Homan capped off a perfect week at the PointsBet Invitational with a 6-2 victory over Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., at Calgary's WinSport Event Centre.

“They were playing great all week. We watched them on TV and they were making everything. So we knew we were gonna have to bring our 'A' game today," said Homan. “It looked they were gonna get a big end there, but we were able to capitalize on a couple mistakes and get a lead.”

Trailing 1-0, Brown had a chance to take the lead in the fourth end when her tap attempt for two was heavy and wide, resulting in a steal of one. Brown had another shot at a multi-point end in the fifth, but missed a double with her final rock to surrender another point and fall behind 3-0.

Dunstone to face Jacobs, Homan to play Brown in PointsBet Invitational finals

CALGARY - Rachel Homan of Ottawa will be facing Corryn Brown of Kamloops in a battle of unbeaten teams in Sunday's women's final at the PointsBet Invitational curling tournament.

Homan, with third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sara Wilkes, beat Christina Black's Halifax foursome 9-5 on Saturday night to advance to the final.

Homan, trailing 2-1 in the fifth, scored five with the hammer. Black came back with two in the sixth to trail 6-4, but Homan counted three more in the seventh. After Black was held to a single point in the eighth it was handshake time.

Brown, with third Erin Pincott, second Sara Koltun and lead Samantha Fisher, advanced to the final with a 10-5 win over Kayla Skrlik of Calgary. The B.C. skip scored three in the first end, then added deuces in the fourth and fifth ends to take control.

A young Team McDonald look to the future with changing of old guard

The door is wide open for the next great men’s curling team to emerge out of Manitoba.

With Matt Dunstone pre-qualifying for the Brier on an annual basis, and Reid Carruthers gradually shifting his focus to coaching, the opportunity is there for a rising star out of the Keystone Province.

Enter Jordon McDonald.

Despite being just 22 and fresh out of junior ranks, McDonald and his Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club foursome are ranked ninth in the country.

B.C. curler Corryn Brown remains undefeated at PointsBet Invitational

CALGARY - Corryn Brown remained perfect at the PointsBet Invitational curling tournament with a 10-6 win over Kate Cameron in Friday's early draw.

Brown's team from Kamloops, B.C., improved to 3-0 and held the top spot in the women's Pool B.

Cameron's rink from St. Adolphe, Man., made a game of it with two points in the eighth and a steal of one in the ninth to cut Brown's lead to 7-6. But Brown made the most of the hammer in the final end to put the game away.

Cameron fell to 1-3 after losing to Selena Sturmay of Edmonton (2-2) 6-4 in Friday's late draw.

John Epping off to strong start with pair of wins at PointsBet Invitational

CALGARY - John Epping picked up a pair of wins to start off his schedule at the PointsBet Invitational curling tournament on Thursday.

Epping defeated Brad Gushue 10-9 in Draw 3 before returning for Draw 4 to top Calgary's Kevin Koe 9-3.

Gushue's team from St. John's, N.L, scored two points in the 10th end before Toronto's Epping put the back-and-forth contest away with a decisive point in the extra end. Gushue, who announced this will be the final season of his decorated career, fell to 1-1.

Against Koe (1-1), Epping's team scored two points in the eighth and four in the ninth to turn a tie game into a six-point edge. Epping now sits atop the Pool A standings at 2-0.

Team Einarson intact and aiming to bring their best

Kerri Einarson describes last season as the most stressful of her career.

PointsBet Invitational altered to help Canada’s top teams prepare for Olympic trials

CALGARY - It's all about Olympic trials for the Canada's top curling teams now.

November's trials in Halifax will determine which men's and women's teams representing Canada at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy. 

Canada's last Olympic gold medals in team curling were won in 2014, when teams skipped by Jennifer Jones and Brad Jacobs prevailed in Sochi, Russia.

Seven of the eight men's teams and seven of the eight women's teams bound for the Halifax trials are competing this week in the PointsBet Invitational that's been altered to mimic the trials environment.

Team Dunstone off to a strong start with AMJ Masters win

You don’t have to remind Matt Dunstone how long his Grand Slam drought was.

“It was five years and 11 months,” said the skip in a chat with the Free Press on Monday.

“So, it’s been a long time coming, for sure.”

Dunstone managed to get the monkey off his back Sunday in London, Ont., with his Winnipeg-based team — third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden — by outlasting Scotland’s Ross Whyte 6-4 in extra ends to capture the AMJ Masters title.

Curling hub network expands to B.C., Saskatchewan, Ontario, another in Alberta

Curling Canada is expanding regional high-performance training hubs to Victoria, Okotoks, Alta., Moose Jaw, Sask., and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.

Clubs in those communities join Winnipeg, in its second year after a pilot project, and long-established training centres in Calgary and Edmonton to create a network that can mimic arena ice conditions, offer technology to enhance shotmaking and sweeping, and provide high-level coaching.

"The challenge for Canada is just the sheer size of the country," said Curling Canada high-performance director David Murdoch. 

"We have national training centres located in Alberta, but how do other athletes get access to those types of resources? How do we create something in these facilities where we create the next future Rachel Homan or Brad Jacobs?

Legendary skip Gushue, set to retire at season’s end, weighs in on Rock League pitch

Don't expect legendary Canadian skip Brad Gushue to cap his farewell season in the fledgling professional Rock League this spring.

The six-time national men's curling champion announced this week that he would retire at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.

Gushue, speaking on a conference call Thursday, said representatives from The Curling Group met with him and his wife last summer "to propose the Rock League to us" before making an offer.

"I kind of sat on it for a little bit and then the offer came back and it was not the same offer," Gushue said.

With Trials coming up and Brier in hometown, Gushue “has the drive” for final season

Of all the victories, moments, titles and podium appearances that Brad Gushue has experienced over his legendary curling career, his team's ability to be a consistent contender for two-plus decades is something that stands out for the Canadian skip. 

"Just the longevity," Gushue said Thursday on a video call with reporters. "The fact that we've been able to stay at or near the top of the game for such a long time, keep that motivation at (a high) level and go through how the game has evolved over the last 25 years. 

"I think that's something that I'm very proud of and I think that's something that's hard to achieve."

The 45-year-old Gushue, from St. John's, N.L., announced Wednesday that the 2025-26 season would be his last in competitive curling.

Canadian curler Brad Gushue calling it a career after upcoming season

Brad Gushue is calling it a career after this upcoming season. 

The skip from St. John's, N.L., announced on social media Wednesday that this season will be his last in competitive curling.

Gushue is a two-time Olympic medallist, having won gold in 2006 and bronze in 2022.

He also won five world championship medals (one gold, four silver), with his gold coming in 2017 in Edmonton, and is a six-time Brier champion (2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024). 

Orange Crush: 20 years after Trials win, Gushue goes for same look in Halifax return

Of the many memories that remain from Brad Gushue's surprise win at the 2005 Olympic curling trials, one pre-event recollection sticks out.

When the St. John's skip arrived in Halifax that year, he was surprised to learn his rink was given bright orange jerseys for the competition.

"We thought it was because we were the youngest guys, we were getting the worst pick," Gushue said. "We were not thrilled at all when we opened our box and saw that we were orange."

The team eventually embraced the colour. Supporters at the arena soon jumped on board too. 

Versatile Wayne Middaugh inducted into World Curling Hall of Fame

PERTH - Canada's Wayne Middaugh, one of the sport’s most versatile players, was inducted into the World Curling Hall of Fame on Thursday.

Middaugh, from Brampton, Ont., is the only athlete to win world men’s titles in three different positions. 

He earned gold in 1993 in Geneva, Switzerland, playing second for Russ Howard, skipped Canada to victory in 1998 in Kamloops, and added another in 2012 in Basel, Switzerland, playing third/vice-skip for Glenn Howard.

He also represented Ontario at 10 different Briers.