By Staff
CurlManitoba recently announced the host curling clubs for the Manitoba provincial curling championships for the upcoming two curling seasons.
The 2022 Viterra Men’s Curling Championships will be hosted by the Selkirk Curling Club and the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hears will be hosted by the Carberry Curling Club.
The East St. Paul Curling Club will play host to the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Neepawa Curling Club will host the Viterra Men’s Curling Championships.
The 2021 season championships, cancelled due to the pandemic, were originally scheduled to be hosted by East St. Paul (Scotties) and Selkirk (Viterra).
“Although they understood and were supportive, we know that the Selkirk and East St. Paul committees were disappointed by the need to cancel his year’s championships,” said CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker in a prepared statement. “It was appropriate for us to consult with them both on their wishes going forward.”
Timing for the 2021-22 season Manitoba Scotties faces the quadrennial scheduling challenge of working around the Olympics in February. As a result, the provincial women’s championship will be played in Carberry Dec. 14 to 19, 2021. The winner will earn the opportunity to represent Manitoba at the national Scotties in Thunder Bay in January, 2022.
“Carberry was one of the original seven clubs which formed the Manitoba Curling Association over 130 years ago,” said CurlManitoba Past President Rob Van Kommer, who will chair the 2021-22 Scotties organizing committee. “Our committee said an emphatic YES! when we were given this opportunity. It will be one of the highlights in the history of our curling club and in the sports history of our community.”
The timing of the Viterra Championship will also be slightly affected in next year’s championship schedule. The best male curlers in Manitoba will assemble in Selkirk Jan. 25 to 30, 2022 with the Tim Hortons Brier scheduled for Lethbridge at the traditional time in early March.
“We are excited by the opportunity to host the Viterra Championship for the second time,” said Garry Dola, Chair of the Selkirk host committee. “We helped launch the Viterra era in Manitoba curling when we hosted the first Viterra championship in 2016. We look forward to working with CurlManitoba and Viterra in staging a showcase event as a part of a season which re-launches Manitoba curling after this past year of pandemic cancellations.”
While Carberry will be hosting the Scotties for the first time, Selkirk will actually be hosting the men’s championship for the sixth time. The list of teams which have won in Selkirk is a Who’s Who of Manitoba curling of the past three decades. Vic Peters (1993 Labatt Tankard), Kerry Burtnyk (2002 Safeway Select), Randy Dutiaume (2005 Safeway Select), Jeff Stoughton (2009 Safeway Championship) and Mike McEwen (2016 Viterra Championship) all won in Selkirk.
“Dates for the East St. Paul Scotties and Neepawa Viterra Championship in 2022-2023 will return to the more traditional timeframe and will be finalized at a later date,” Baker said on behalf of CurlManitoba.
The schedule of events for qualifying into the Carberry Scotties and the Selkirk Viterra Championship will be announced in the near future.
