Manitoba’s rookie skip growing more comfortable at 2026 Montana’s Brier

You couldn’t blame Braden Calvert and his all-rookie team from Winnipeg for feeling a few jitters on the opening weekend of the 2026 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI.

 

Coming from a province in which the pursuit of the Purple Heart is ingrained in the culture, Calvert, vice-skip Corey Chambers, second Kyle Kurz, lead Brendan Bilawka and alternate Rob Gordon had watched hundreds of Montana’s Brier games on television over the years, but experiencing the real thing for the first time at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s, N.L., was next level, to say the least.

 

“It’s probably exceeded all expectations honestly,” said Calvert on Monday afternoon, moments after finishing off an 8-4 win over B.C.’s Team Cody Tanaka (0-3; Kamloops/Delta) to improve to 2-1 in Pool B round-robin play. “Being a huge curling fan and watching this forever, and then being out here, you have to treat it like every other event. But at the same time, it’s not.”

 

That was evident in the Manitoba champions’ debut on Saturday afternoon when they were dispatched 8-2 by Alberta’s Team Kevin Koe.

 

Since then, two wins have followed and the comfort level has increased, as shown on Monday. The team didn’t get rattled after giving up a fifth-end steal to B.C. to fall behind 4-3. Team Manitoba regrouped at the break and replied immediately with a deuce in the sixth, a steal of one in the eighth and two more in the ninth to prompt handshakes from the West Coasters.

 

“We liked how we were playing the first five,” said Calvert. “Maybe we got a little frustrated and played a runback when we could have drawn for one (in the fifth) and lost control of the game. But we got a deuce back and kind of took control of the game again.”

 

That provides a much-needed boost of confidence just in time for a highly anticipated Buffalo Battle — Team Calvert will play fellow Winnipegers Team Matt Dunstone (3-0) Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. (all times NT) in a game that has all sorts of tiebreaker consequences as the race for the playoffs heats up.

 

It’s a matchup of two skips who butted heads constantly as junior skips — Dunstone won Manitoba and Canadian Junior titles in 2013 and 2016, while Calvert won those same titles in 2014 and 2015 (in Corner Brook, N.L.), and also won World Juniors gold in 2015.

 

They haven’t played each other since 2023, when they split a pair of games at the Manitoba men’s championship, so this showdown is long overdue.

 

“We’re excited to play them,” said Calvert. “Matt and the guys, you know, we’re pretty good friends with them and it’ll be fun. Obviously it’s going to take our best game (to beat them). They’re one of the best teams in the country, if not on most days in the top two. So we know we’re going to have to step up our game even more than what we have been doing here.”

 

All that said, Calvert believes his team can continue to make progress in St. John’s as the week goes on, and potentially be in the mix for a playoff spot. 

 

“We’ll see what the end of the week has in store,” he said, “but we feel we can hang with these top teams if we’re playing well and getting a feel for the ice and getting more comfortable out there.”

 

In other Monday afternoon games, Team Manitoba-Dunstone remained unbeaten with an 8-3 victory over the Northwest Territories’ Team Jamie Koe (1-3; Yellowknife); Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen (3-1; Saskatoon) turned back Northern Ontario’s Team Sandy MacEwan (1-3; Sudbury) 5-1; and New Brunswick’s Team James Grattan (2-2; Oromocto) was a 9-6 winner over the Yukon’s Team Thomas Scoffin (1-3; Whitehorse).

 

Alberta’s Team Kevin Koe (3-0; Calgary) had the Pool B bye on Monday afternoon.

 

The 2026 Montana’s Brier continues Monday with the late draw at 7:30 p.m. (all times NT).

 

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2026 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

 

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

 

For ticket information for the 2026 Montana’s Brier, go to www.curling.ca/2026brier/tickets/

 

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2026brier/nouvelles/