Playoffs begin at Brier as curling continues around the region in a big way

As the top men's teams from across the country battle it out for supremacy at the Montana's Brier in Regina, hundreds of teams will be taking each other on in various events around Manitoba. While the skill level may not be quite as high, the fun level at many of them should be.

In Regina, it started with 18 teams and now that the playoffs are here, 6 remain. Both Manitoba squads qualified and another, Team Saskatchewan, skipped by Manitoban Mike McEwen is still in the mix as well. Reid Carruthers, who won the Viterra Men's Provincials in Stonewall a month ago, finished first in Pool A after the round-robin with a 7-1 record. Matt Dunstone was third at 5-2. McEwen won Pool B with a 7-1 record.

The championship round involves a somewhat complicated matrix of page playoff and elimination games but in the end, the more you win and the higher you finished in the round robin, the easier it is to get to the one game winner takes all final.

Page 1-2 Qualifier: Friday, 1 p.m.

• Manitoba (Reid Carruthers) vs. Canada (Brad Gushue)
• Saskatchewan (Mike McEwen) vs. Alberta (Brendan Bottcher)

Winners advance to the Page 1-2 playoff game. Losers drop to the Page 3-4 qualifiers.

Page 3-4 Qualifier: Friday, 6 p.m.

• Page 1-2 qualifier loser vs. Manitoba (Matt Dunstone)
• Page 1-2 qualifier loser vs. Northwest Territories (Jamie Koe)

Winners advance to the Page 3-4 playoff game.

Closer to home, it seems there is a bonspiel at every second curling club. You'll find ladies' bonspiels with various themes in places like Virden, Pinawa and La Salle, mixed and open events in Treherne, Dauphin, and the Whiteshell club, men's events in Stonewall and Pinawa, juniors will compete in Rivers and the U20 Mixed Double's provincials are on at the Charleswood Club in Winnipeg. Nolan Ross of Portage along with Piper Stoesz are competing in this one.

They were having plenty of fun at the open bonspiel in Westbourne last weekend. Team Heather Davey and individual winner Keith Lambert took home the costume prize judged by Quinton Blair and band