Long rule Lord Calvert

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This article was published 04/01/2017 (3494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Braden Calvert can’t win back-to-back Manitoba and Canadian junior men’s curling titles, but his teammates might.

He can, however, collect his third provincial title, while at least a fraction of the team could grab a sixth consecutive buffalo crest.

Confusing, indeed. There’s a few rather complex — though intriguing — storylines surrounding the Calvert quartet this week at the provincial junior championships.

But there’s a common thread — a simple theme — that weaves in and out of the Granite team: success.

“It’s all an absolute blur right now, all the things that have gone on the last few years,” Calvert said Tuesday morning, following a come-from-behind 9-5 victory over Stonewall’s Thomas Dunlop in round-robin play at the St. Vital Curling Club.

“I was still playing hockey when I was 14 or 15, hardly on the curling scene. I came to Winnipeg for school, got on some city teams and had some success. It’s given me some amazing opportunities.”

The 21-year-old Carberry product is skipping the reigning provincial and national junior men’s championship team, although he wasn’t even part of the fun last year. Matt Dunstone guided that squad — with third Colton Lott, second Kyle Doering and lead Rob Gordon — to the 2016 Manitoba title and a Canadian crown in Stratford, Ont.

Dunstone then aged out of junior, so Lott, Doering and Gordon turned to a guy who’d earned his own share of good fortune in juniors.

Calvert had won the nationals in 2014 and 2015, including a world title in 2015 in Tallinn, Estonia, with an entirely different lineup.

Looking back a few years, Doering had skipped his own team to the 2012 provincial title with Lott at third, and then Lott partnered with Dunstone in 2013 to win Manitoba and Canadian crowns.

What does it all mean? Well, in the previous five years at least one member of the current Calvert team captured a Manitoba junior men’s curling championship, and in the past four years at least one wrapped up a national title.

“Somebody has touched (the provincial title) the last five years. It’s pretty unique, for sure. At least one of us,” said Calvert, who has finished school and makes his living farming. “It was a pretty easy decision to put this team together and try to win it in our last year of juniors.

“I think it’s the hardest event in Canada. You look at this provincial field and you could stack it up to the national field and I think it’s neck and neck. We look at this as the big event for the year. Getting out of Manitoba, you’re doing something right.”

The Calvert team, the top seed in the junior men’s event, picked up a 5-2 triumph over Joshua Friesen of Morris in a late-afternoon matchup Tuesday at the Pembina Curling Club to raise its record to a perfect 4-0 in the eight-team black division.

The round robins in two junior men’s and two junior women’s divisions finish Thursday afternoon, and tiebreakers go Thursday evening, followed by the Page playoffs on Friday at St. Vital. If no tiebreakers are required, the playoffs begin Thursday night.

Calvert is also making a name for himself in men’s play. He skipped his 2015 world junior championship team of third Kyle Kurz, second Lucas Van Den Bosch and lead Brendan Wilson to the final four of the 2016 Manitoba men’s championship, and that combination has already punched a ticket for the 2017 Viterra men’s championship next month in Portage la Prairie.

He even stepped in this past November to skip Manitoba’s entry in the Canadian mixed championship in Yarmouth, N.S., settling for a silver medal with third Kerri Einarson, second Kyle Einarson and lead Jennifer Clark-Rouire, representing the Gimli Curling Club.

Doering said it was a no-brainer to persuade the sensational Calvert to join the trio for the 2017 Manitoba junior championship.

“We’ve always had a friendly rivalry with him. He’s just a great player,” he said.

“He’s got a good demeanour, he’s very calm and collected but he’s got that killer instinct. He can make that key shot to bury a team. He’s the complete package.”

Doering said the collective hope is to close out their junior careers with a win this week and a trip to the Canadian playdowns, Jan. 21 to 29 in Victoria.

“It’s crazy. Something about this group of guys is very special. We’re just very excited to see what’s going to happen here,” said Doering, 21, in his fourth year of business studies at the University of Winnipeg.

“This tournament I hold very close to my heart.

“It’s my seventh Canola and I look forward to it every year. This year is actually kind of sad because I know it’s my last one. It’s emotional and it would mean the world to me to close out with another win.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell