Weekend Warriors Olympic Champion – Winnipeg Free Press

STONEWALL — In how many sports can a group of friends put together a team and defeat an Olympic champion?

Curling can be lonely.

Charleswood's Riley Smith skipped past No. 1 team Reid Carruthers and their star Brad Jacobs at the Manitoba men's provincial curling championships Friday morning at Stonewall.

Smith scored three in the 10th to win 8-7 and advance to the playoffs.

“We're the kind of warriors who have a good weekend and crush a few beers between games,” said Smith's manager, Justin Twiss. “That's it for us.”

A victory like that is certainly worth a celebratory drink or two. The No. 8 seed, currently ranked 61st in the nation, rounded out the brackets with Nick Curtis third and Jared Hancox second. The only time they won three or more games in a row at this year's event was at the MCT Curling Cup in early November.

After Carruthers hit par in the ninth to go up 7-5, Smith had to be perfect at 10 to even have a chance.

“You never think you're going to get three, especially with a team like this. “At halftime we said we're going to throw some trash and hopefully the corners will be good,” said Twiss, 33, of St. Claude.

“And if we have a shot for a three, we're going to throw it up no matter how hard it is, because if you get two out there and go to extra, we're not going to have that much of a steal without a hammer, so go for the win, you've got to take it.”

Smith, 33, a Winnipegger who sells fasteners in central Canada, used his first rock in three takedowns, which paved the way for him to cash in on his final rock.

“Everybody's either trading or doing their own thing, but we screw up as much as we can. We play every weekend and every event. It's nice to play well when we're not curled up in our work,” Smith said.

“If we're going to win ourselves, we'll have to face them one or two more times, but beating them once gives us the confidence to know we can do it next time.”

It wasn't a great week for the heavy favorites on Thursday, as Jacobs and Carruthers suffered a 3-2 loss against a young team that was skipped by Logan Ede of Kipling, Sask.

The loss to Smith forced Canada's sixth-ranked men's team to play Ede again on Friday afternoon, and they awoke with a 9-2 victory, en route to a staged final eight. Carruthers took on Assiniboine's Jordon McDonald in the 7:45 p.m. draw, while Smith took on Assiniboine's Brett Walter.

In the other two playoff rounds, Ryan Wiebe (Assiniboine) faces Greg Todoruk (Dauphin) and Brayden Calvert (Fort Rouge) against Jeff Stewart (Gladstone) on Friday night.

Jacobs won Olympic gold for Canada 10 years ago. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., product also won the 2013 Brier presented by Northern Ontario.

There was no time to reminisce on Friday morning.

“We came up against a good young team that hit a lot and we have to be better – plain and simple. We were pretty sloppy, especially in the first half of that game, I would say it wasn't like us,” Jacobs said after the loss.

“You have to bring your A-game to win big championships like this. “Right now, I would say we're playing well, but we have a lot of better games.”

The last time Jacobs competed for the provincial crown was in the 2022 Northern Ontario final, defeating Sandy McEwan.

Five teams participated in the competition.

“You have to bring your A-game to win big championships like this. “Right now, I would say we're playing well, but we have a lot of better games.”– Brad Jacobs

After taking a step back from full-time play in 2023, Jacobs joins Carruthers, sophomore Derek Samagalski and Connor Nyegovan this past offseason.

The Manitoba game is a 32-team leaderboard.

“For years, everyone thought we were going to beat Northern Ontario. Most outsiders who haven't been in this position before don't know how hard it is to win a provincial championship, so (being the favorite) we don't care and we don't pay. Pay attention to that,” said Jacobs, 38.

“Honestly, we're going to do everything we can to give each team the respect they deserve, because it's pretty clear to me that everybody in Manitoba knows how to get around the curler and draw, so we just have to do better. That's all.”

Friday was Smith's biggest win since he won the Manitoba junior title in 2011 playing third for Stonewall's Sam Hood.

It's still a long way to grab a second career Buffalo Jacket, but regardless of what happens after their big upset, they'll be enjoying the ride.

“Honestly, we're all pretty good friends on the ice, so we can be fiercely honest with each other on the ice, and that helps you when you're not throwing the rock well or you're not on your game. I knew why,” said Smith.

“I think we probably have more fun than other teams and that helps.”

Portage will host the 2025 men's provincials

Curl Manitoba announced Friday that the Portage-la-Prairie venue will host the 2025 men's provincials.

With the 2021 championship suspended for one year due to the pandemic, the 2025 edition will be the 100th men's curling championship in Manitoba.

Portage was last held in 2017 when Mike McEwen took the top spot.

[email protected]

X: @TaylorAllen31