By JIM BENDER
SELKIRK – They just never stopped believing despite a number of crucial setbacks the last few years.
The Heather foursome maintained that belief even after skip Braden Calvert was heavy on a draw to win the Bunge Manitoba’s men’s provincial curling championship in the10th end.
But Calvert made no mistake with a short raise-takeout to crack a 3 in the extra end to beat Assiniboine Memorial’s Jordon McDonald 10-7 in a hard-fought final at the Selkirk Recreation Complex on Sunday.
“There’s no way I can put into words what I’m feeling right now,” said third Corey Chambers. “We lost three previous finals before this. I started to wonder whether or not the dream is going to come true. I’m honestly speechless right now.”
But he had no doubt that Calvert would pull through, despite the miss in the 10th.
“There’s no one else I’d rather have throwing the last rock when we need it,” said Chambers, 39. “We never stopped believing that we were going to come together as a team.”
Calvert’s attempted draw to the piece of the button slid to the back four in the 10th.
“Halfway down, I thought we won,” he said. “Just bounce back and get into a good head space quickly, and I’m proud of the guys for supporting me and we were able to pull it off.”
McDonald actually bounced back from a 7-4 deficit to force the extra end.
“I think this was our seventh game playing against them this year – there were four games in the (Canadian Curling) Pre-trials and three games here,” said Calvert, 30. “We know we’re going to be in for a dogfight every single time, we’re so evenly matched. But the only thing we can control is ourselves.”
It was McDonald’s first men’s provincial final after beating clubmate Brent Walter 10-4 in the semifinal.
“I think, in these types of games, it always comes down to the last rock and we forced him to make a tricky shot in the last,” said McDonald, 22. “You just hope for misses and fortunately, we got one later in the game. To take it to an extra was great. I was proud of the boys’ efforts to keep fighting and it’s a great experience for us going forward.”
McDonald had beaten Calvert in the pre-trials to advance to the Canadian Curling Trials.
“Getting to the Trials but not the Brier really sucks,” said McDonald, who was supported by third Jacques Gauthier, second Elias Huminicki and Cameron Olafson.
Calvert, who was also supported by second Kyle Kurz, 30 and lead Brendan Bilawka, 28, will represent Manitoba at the Montana’s Brier in St. John’s, NL, Feb. 27-Mar. 8.
“I’m still in shock right now,” said Calvert, 30. “It’s unbelievable. A childhood dream for all of us. It’s hard to put into words. We grew up watching (curling legends) Jeff Stoughton and Mike McEwen and Kerry Burtnyk and now, your name is kind of beside them in history. So, it’s pretty cool.
“I just look at the guys that we did this with and Corey’s older than us – he’s battled in Manitoba forever … and he’s such a talent. I’m so happy that we could pick him up and just make this Brier for him. Deep down, I feel like I’ve been playing for him a little bit, just wanting him to go so bad. And it’s going to be exciting to see Billy (Bilawka) there. And me and Kyle have been playing together for 12-13 years now, and it’s going to be awesome.”
Chambers was already relishing what it will be like to curl at the Brier on The Rock.
“The first Brier, going to Newfoundland, the crowd’s probably going to be insane there,” he said. “I can’t think of a better one to go to.”
Kelsey Calvert, Braden’s wife, had also won her first Manitoba women’s title earlier this season.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said. “I think our good luck charm, (baby) Louella, is earning here keep in our household.”
Linescore
McDonald 010 100 200 2 – 10 — 7
Calvert* 202 01 020 0 – 03 — 10
