Hall of Famers: 2026

Carruthers, Reid
CURLER
Inducted 2026

Reid Carruthers started his Manitoba Men’s championship career in 2006 when, skipping a just-out-of-juniors team, he lost the final to Jeff Stoughton. Twenty years later, his remarkable career record has him tied with Stoughton for most Manitoba final appearances (12). He is #3, behind Stoughton and Kerry Burtnyk, in both Manitoba men’s championship games played (142) and games won (113). He is also second behind only Stoughton in Brier games played (130) and games won (79) by a Manitoban.

At the start of his career, Carruthers played in two Manitoba Junior finals. He lost the final playing for Scott Barth in 2000 and his Pembina team won it in 2003.

He got his second Manitoba championship in 2008 skipping a Deer Lodge Mixed team.

In the five years from 2006 to 2010, Carruthers skipped teams in the Manitoba men’s championship with a record of 20 wins and 11 losses. He was voted the all-star skip in 2009.

In 2011, he moved from his role as skip to play second for Jeff Stoughton on a team that won Manitoba, Canada, and the World Championship – compiling a 29W-3L record across those three championship events.

He played three more years with Stoughton. They missed the playoffs in the Manitoba championship in 2012 but in 2013 and 2014, with Mark Nicholls on the team, they completed a set of medals for Carruthers with a Canadian silver medal in 2013 and a bronze medal in 2014.

In 2015, he returned to skipping. His teams played in four Manitoba final games in the next five years, winning in 2015, 2018 & 2019 and losing the final in 2017. That was followed by three years partnered with Mike McEwen. With McEwen skipping, they played two more Manitoba final games with a final game loss in 2020 and a championship trip to the Brier in 2022. They also played the Brier as wildcard entry in 2020 and 2021, when there was no Manitoba playoff due to Covid.

In his return to skipping, Carruthers lost the Manitoba final in 2023 but earned a Brier Wildcard invitation. Teamed with Brad Jacobs in 2024, and Jacobs skipping from mid-season, Carruthers posted his 11th Manitoba championship. His last Manitoba championship and Brier appearance came in 2025 when he once again returned to skipping.

In addition to his 2011 World Men’s Championship appearance, Carruthers also played the World Mixed Doubles in 2017 in Lethbridge, AB.

Partnered with Joanne Courtney, they won the Canadian Championship with a perfect 10W-0L record and represented Canada in Lethbridge.  Mixed Doubles was going to be in the Olympics for the first time in 2018 and Canada had to succeed at the 2017 Worlds to earn Canada a berth.

They had a 5W-2L record to qualify for the 16-team knockout round and they had to win two more games to qualify Canada for the Olympics. They beat undefeated Scotland 8-3 and they beat undefeated Latvia 10-5 to earn that Olympic berth. They won their semi-final 5-4 in an extra end over China – but lost the final to Switzerland 6-5 to Canada its first silver medal and only its second World Mixed Doubles medal.

Beginning in 2016, the Carruthers-Courtney duo played together in three Canadian and one World Championship with a record of 30 wins and only eight losses.

Across all events, Reid Carruthers’ championship curling career comprises 26 Manitoba championship appearances, 19 Canadian championship appearances, and 2 World championship appearances with an overall winning record of 277W-124L : a “no doubt about it” Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame CURLER selection.

Derek Samagalski made his first Provincial Juniors appearance in 2002. In the next quarter century, he has 29 Junior, Mixed, Men’s, and Mixed Doubles appearances with an overall win loss record of 157W – 56 L for a 74% winning record.

He lost the 2005 Junior Men’s provincial final playing second for Dan Kammerlock.  Jason Gunnlaugson was also on that team.

A year later, Samagalski and Gunnlaugson joined forces with Reid Carruthers and Tyler Forrest, who had won the juniors in 2003. They had an immediate impact, winning the Safeway Event in the MCA ‘spiel and posting a 7W-2L record in reaching the final of the Safeway Select in Steinbach.

He qualified for the provincial men’s on teams skipped by Chris Galbraith & then Reid Carruthers in 2008-09-10 but his breakthrough to the national level came when he joined Rob Fowler’s Brandon team in 2011. They qualified for provincials all four years they played together but 2012 was the big one. They had an 8W-1L Manitoba Championship record and a 9W-5L Brier record in winning the Bronze Medal.  Derek Samagalski was the All-Star lead at that Brier.

In 2015, he rejoined Reid Carruthers and together they won Manitoba five times in the next nine years – with Reid, Mike McEwen and Brad Jacobs as the skip …always with Derek at second. They also qualified for the Brier twice, with Derek playing third in 2023. That appearance as third and his 2026 appearance as Nunavut skip puts Derek Samagalski on the very short list of players who have played all four positions at the Brier.

Along the way, Derek lost four Manitoba Men’s finals, appeared in two Olympic Trials, won a Grand Slam champions cup in 2016, won the Manitoba Mixed as the skip in 2017, and lost a Manitoba Mixed Doubles final in 2019.

There is no question that he has the championship credentials to be included with the greats of Manitoba curling in the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.

Samagalski, Derek CURLER
Inducted 2026

Matt Dunstone’s Granite (2013) and West Kildonan (2016) teams (Colton Lott, seconds Daniel Grant & Kyle Doering, leads Brendan MacCuish & Robbie Gordon, Coachs Scott Grant & Cal Edie) teams were half of a four-year run of Canadian junior men’s champions from Manitoba. It was only the second time in the history of the event that any province won four in a row. Saskatchewan teams did it from 1949 to 1952. Over 60 years later, the Dunstone and Braden Calvert teams won four in a row from 2013 to 2016.

Across those four years, Matt Dunstone and Colton Lott, with two different front ends and two different coaches, played in not four but five Manitoba championship final games and two Canadian championship final games.

It started in 2012. Dunstone qualified for the provincial juniors with Daniel Grant and Brendan MacCuish on the front end and coached by Scott Grant,

The next year, they added Colton Lott at third and won the Free Press main event of the Christmas Junior Bonspiel. At Brandon in the 2013 provincial juniors they put up a 9W-1L record to win the title. In Fort McMurray, AB, the West Kildonan team went 10W-3L to win the first of those four championships. That earned them a trip to Sochi, Russia for the test event for the 2014 Olympics.

But it was a bronze medal for the Dunstone team in 2013 – as they lost the 1-2 playoff game and the semi-final before pulling things back together for a 6-4 win over Sweden in the bronze medal game.

The next year, they were undefeated playing the junior final in Portage against Braden Calvert but lost that final.

It was a new team in 2015: Dunstone & Lott with Kyle Doering and Rob Gordon now on the front end and coached by Calvin Edie. The third consecutive Manitoba final for the team was, again, a loss to Braden Calvert. Dunstone won the Page 1-1 game 7-6 over Calvert but lost the final by the same score.

That set the stage for one of the great seasons ever for a Manitoba junior team.  They returned to the Manitoba final and concluded an undefeated run with a 7-4 win over Derek Oryniak’s team. At the Canadian Juniors in Stratford, ON, they won every game but one. Matt Dunstone was the all-star skip as they won the 2016 championship – the fourth in a row for Manitoba – and a trip to the World Juniors in Denmark.

They won a second bronze medal with a 7W-2L round robin record, a loss to Switzerland in the Page 3-4 game, and a win over the same Swiss team in the bronze medal game.

In the midst of all that, they qualified for the Viterra Men’s championship where they caused a lot of talk by advancing all the way to the championship final before losing to Mike McEwen’s team.

It was a remarkable team – well deserving of Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame status.

Dunstone – 2013 & 2016
Canadian Junior Champion TEAM
Inducted 2026

Grassie – 2009 Canadian Mixed Champion TEAM
Inducted 2026

Sean Grassie’s Deer Lodge team (Alison Nimik, Ross Derksen, Kendra Green, Coach Jack Grassie) was an instant success story.

Kendra Green (Georges) & Ross Derksen had won the Manitoba Mixed and lost the Canadian final in 2006. Alison Nimik (Flaxey) and Sean Grassie were both junior champion skips, in 2001 and 1999 respectively. Jack Grassie had an impressive record as Coach of sons Sean & Scott’s teams.

They joined forces to win the Meyers Norris Penny Manitoba Mixed in March of 2007 (officially the 2008 provincial). Playing at home at Deer Lodge, they had seven wins & 3 losses and they lost the final to a Reid Carruthers Pembina team.

The next year, March 2008 (the 2009 championship), playing at East St. Paul, they lost only a single game at the provincials and their 8W-1L record won them the championship.

When the Grassie team went to the Canadian Championship in Iqaluit, it had been 17 years since Manitoba had won a Mixed title.

They only lost one game – an 11W-1L record as they won that Canadian Championship.

This Sean Grassie foursome played three championship events – they played in the final every time – and they posted an impressive record of 26 wins with only 5 losses.

That was the end of the line for the team as there was not yet a World Championship for 4-person Mixed teams.  But World Mixed Doubles was beginning to gain momentum.

The 2009 World Mixed Doubles was only the second official championship and Canada was represented in those early years by two members of the champion 4’s team.

Sean Grassie, Alison Nimik and Coach Jack went to Cortina, Italy – they were undefeated through the qualifying stage, lost a semi-final to Hungary (who lost the final to Switzerland) and then won the bronze medal game over China.  An 11W-1L record. They were the first Canadians to win a World Mixed Doubles medal.

Pembina Curling Club’s Kaitlyn Lawes teams of 2008 and 2009 (Jenna Loder, seconds Liz Peters & Laryssa Grenkow, leads Sarah Wazney & Breanne Meakin, Coachs Alex Mowat & Rob Meakin) are the only teams from the same Manitoba club to win the Canadian Junior Women’s title in back-to-back years.

Kaitlyn Lawes, Sarah Wazney (Pyke) and Jenna Loder first show up in the Manitoba record books as the Calleen Neufeld team at the Canada Winter Games in 2003.

In 2004 they played their first of four consecutive Manitoba junior championships with Kaitlyn skipping and Jenna at third, Theresa Cannon at second, and Sarah at lead.  The last two of those, 2006 & 2007, with Alex Mowat as their coach, they lost the final.

They took the next step in 2008 – Kaitlyn’s sixth consecutive year qualifying for the provincial juniors. Liz Peters moved in at second. They went undefeated to win the Manitoba championship – then lost only two to win Canada and a trip to the worlds in Sweden.

That worlds was uncharacteristic of a team that had been so dominant in winning Canada. They went loss-win, loss-win through eight round robin games. A game nine win over Switzerland was their first back-to-back win and that earned them a tiebreaker, tied coming home they stole three to beat Denmark but lost to Russia in the 3-4 playoff game.

Their bronze medal game was a re-match with Russia and a 9-8 win when they scored two coming home.

For the 2009 season, Laryssa Grenkow (Stevenson) and Breanne Meakin were the new front end and Rob Meakin was the coach. Although not quite as dominant, the new team made the most of their one-year opportunity.

They won the Asham main event in the Christmas Junior Bonspiel. They won the Manitoba championship with a single loss in ten games. They had a 10W-4 loss record in winning the Canadian championship.

That win earned them the chance to play in Vancouver in the venue test event for the 2010 Olympics and this time they got off to a much better start – winning their first four games. Then they lost two – then won two – then lost their final round robin game but the 6W-3L record put them into the 3-4 playoff game and the third playoff game in two years against Russia.

A 4-3 win moved them to the semi-final and a win over Switzerland so they were assured of the silver medal – at least one step up the podium from the year before. And that’s where they stayed as they lost the gold medal game to Eve Muirhead’s Scottish team.

Across the two seasons, the Lawes teams played five flag championship final games and had a six-championship record of 54 wins and 16 losses……a record worthy of joining the best in Manitoba curling history in the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.

Lawes – 2008 & 2009
Canadian Junior Champion TEAMS
Inducted 2026