The final tabulations weren't disclosed to the media at CurlManitoba's press conference which was held earlier this week to announce the top five seeds and the draw for the 2018 Viterra Provincial Men's Curling Championship which begins next Wednesday in Winkler but I'm guessing that the teams who qualified and had input into the processs unanimously selected two-time defending champion Mike McEwen of the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg as the number one seed.

2015 champion and last years finalist Reid Carruthers of West St. Paul was an obvious choice for the number two seed.

The third seed defeated Pat Simmons of the Granite in the Manitoba Curling Tour final and just so happens to hold down the number nine spot on the World Curling Tour rankings having earned $45,500 so far this curling season.

"I think we're pretty happy," said Jason Gunnlaugson. "Realistically it didn't matter what we did this year. With what's happened the last four or five years, Mike and Reid were going to be one & two. Where we were at, we were in a battle for that third seed, so getting it was as good as we could hope for."

Gunnlaugson, Alex Forrest, Ian McMillan and Connor Njegovan are also 11th on the World Curling Tour Order of Merit.

"We've gone out and played a lot against the best teams and beat most of them," said the 33-year-old skip who curls out of the Granite. "We've had a good record against all the Manitoba teams that are seeded at the top half of the draw. We're feeling as confident as we can. We play in the hardest province but I think we've positioned ourselves well to give it a shot at winning it."

Three years ago Winkler hosted the Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

It was a smashing success.

Gunnlaugson believes the 2018 Viterra Championship will be as impressive as the 2015 Scotties.

"I'm expecting that if you want tickets you better buy them soon. From everything I'm hearing, a lot of the draws are close to sold out, there's a huge sponsorship base, a huge volunteer base and people are very excited for it. I think it's the perfect size of city and the perfect size of venue for the event. I think it's going to be fantastic."

In 2006 an upstart team consisting of Reid Carruthers, Jason Gunnlaugson, Derek Samagalski and Tyler Forrest went on an incredible run in Steinbach before losing to the legendary Jeff Stoughton in the final.

Gunnlaugson says his current team has a great chance to be in the mix next weekend in Winkler.

"We've been solid and if we play solid we'll be there at least Saturday night. The teams are so good that when you start talking about the final eight you need the right things to happen in some of those games. It's just a matter of keep doing what we've been doing and if we can do that, we'll be there right at the end."

Pat Simmons is the fourth seed and William Lyburn of Assiniboine Memorial is number five.

McEwen will play his opener against Merv Satterthwaite of St. Vital; Carruthers will meet Rob Fisher of Dauphin; Gunnlaugson will take on Travis Graham of Thompson; Simmons will face Brandon Radford of Swan River and Lyburn will meet Brett Walter of Elmwood.

Steve Irwin of Brandon will open against Tyler Drews of Fort Rouge, Terry McNamee of Brandon will face Riley Smith of Fort Rouge, Cale Dunbar of Riverview will take on David Bohn of Assiniboine Memorial; Kelly Marnoch of Carberry will meet Daniel Birchard of Pembina and Graham Freeman of Virden will face Travis Bale of Fort Rouge.


photo courtesy CurlManitoba