Sifton’s Peter Prokopowich will be entering the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame this spring.
The induction dinner and ceremony, which will be held, May 7 in Brandon, will see the local curler inducted into the hall with the Kelly Robertson team, which also included Doug Armour and Bob Scales.
Curling out of the Neepawa Curling Club, the quartet won provincial senior men’s title won in 2011, 2012 and 2014, losing in the final in 2013.
They had a memorable run in 2011, winning the national title, which allowed them to represent Canada at the world’s in 2012, where they lost to Ireland’s John Jo Kenny in the final in an extra end.
“I was quite surprised. I really didn’t expect that. It came as a nice surprise,” he said of his reaction when he heard the news.
Prokopowich remember how well they all got along as a team.
“And that was the key to winning. Everybody was on the same page,” he said.
It was quite an experience, Prokopowich said of the team’s success, noting 2011 was the first year they had curled together.
“We had lost our first game in the qualifier in the bonspiel and then went through to win the bonspiel,” he said. “And then we went on a run at provincials and nationals. To win Canada was an amazing year. People say representing your country, what a great feeling it is. And it really is to go to another country and represent (Canada). It was quite the experience. It was quite a run we had.”
Prokopowich knows quite a few of the other inductees and is looking forward to the evening.
He admits he keeps in touch with his former teammates on a regular basis.
“We don’t curl together anymore, but we touch base a few times a year,” he said.
Prokopowich considers himself lucky, having curled on a number of good teams over the years.
“And for some reason that team just clicked. I don’t even really know why, but things just worked out for us. It was kind of nice after all those years,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky. I got to play in bonspiels in Sifton and all the small surrounding towns and then to go on and represent Canada, you can’t ask for anything else.”
