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Diamond Valley skip on a roll ahead of Alberta men's provincials

Team Jacob Libbus embracing underdog status at Boston Pizza Cup in Alberta next week

There’s momentum and then there’s a pair of victories over top-five ranked teams in the world.

Diamond Valley skip Jacob Libbus, along with teammates Nathan Molberg, Zachary Pawliuk and Michael Henricks, couldn’t have tasted that kind of success at a better time with the 2025 Boston Pizza Cup, Alberta’s men’s provincials, hitting the ice in Stettler next week.

“At the beginning of the season, we made a decision to really commit to practising hard and working our butts off,” said Libbus. “The amount of work ethic everyone has, we all have one focus and all want to become the best and work hard to be successful in curling.

“That’s our team identify, we are all willing to work real hard for it.”

It’s paying dividends for the foursome.

Last month, the Ellerslie Curling Club team bested the No. 4 ranked Team Brad Jacobs and Italy’s fifth-ranked Team Joël Retornaz at the Astec Safety Challenge in Lloydminster.

“As the weekend progressed, we figured out the ice a little bit better and were able to make those small adjustments to be able to really put us over the top,” Libbus said. “Once we got to Retornaz, it was our chance to win or go home, there was a bit of extra oomph in the team.

“And once you beat the No. 5 ranked team in the world at the time, your confidence is a little higher so it’s easier for us to play. We played under the guise that it would be crazy for us to beat (Jacobs) and it’s probably scary for them to lose to us and be out of their own tournament.

“We’ve all been working hard for a really long time and to see a semblance of results from that is good to build confidence going into provincials and meaning that we’re doing something right in our practices.”

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Team Libbus talks during a break in play at the Aster Safety Challenge in Lloydminster. (Susanne Pawliuk Photography)

The team has brought on retired curler Brad Thiessen, known as one of the best second players in the world during his career, as its coach this season and got the opportunity to work with the inimitable Kevin Martin at a January session as well.

“(Brad) has been a good guide for us this year, in our time with him we’ve figured out the right way to go about our practices,” Libbus said. “We got lucky in the sense that nobody has really asked him to coach before and he was able to free up some time to spend with us on weekends and during the week.

“Lots of these top level curlers are willing to help people and it’s just more that they don’t get asked often to share their insights.”

The Boston Pizza Cup runs Feb. 4-9 in Stettler. This will mark Libbus’ third trip to the men’s provincials. The 24-year-old is a provincial champion at the junior and U18 levels.

“It’s a lot of people backing us, it’s kind of different this year,” said Libbus, who works in IT for the City of Edmonton. “Before we were never really expected to do much at provincials, the first time we went, we were juniors and made some waves at men’s provincials.

“We already know we can be successful and know it’s a long road to becoming one of the top teams in the province or the country…we still realize we’re the underdogs, but I think it’s better to play as an underdog and not have that pressure. It’s more exciting if you do shock the province.”

One quarter of the 12 teams in the field have connections to the Okotoks and Foothills areas.

Along with Libbus, Foothills County skip Ben Kiist has guided his Edmonton-based squad to the provincials with Okotoks’ Garrett Johnston throwing second stones for Team Daniel Humbke.

Kevin Koe, an eight-time provincial champion and winner of two of the past three titles, will be among the favourites in central Alberta.

For more information on the event, go to Curling Alberta’s website.




Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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