Team Neufeld picked up a big win in their opening draw of the Viterra Championships at Stride Place in Portage.

They were down 2-0 after the second end and came storming back for a 10-3 win over Rob Atkins of the Granite Curling Club. Part of that was a four point steal in the fourth end.

"I thought we were pretty good in the first couple of ends too and I was just a little heavy and bounced off and gave him a shot for three in the first end," says Neufeld. "The second end we got caught with a little more curl than we thought for two, and it was a steal so that kind of hurt but we hung in there and played well to get a good deuce in three. Played a really good fourth and got them in place that they had to keep going at it and couldn't clean it up. He had a really hard shot on his last one, the best chance was a double and give up two but we had them in a good predicament at that point."

Second Peter Nicholls says it's nice to be playing for the home club.

"Dale (Michie), our lead, and our third (Dean Moxham) are both from Portage so it's great to be playing here. I'm from Winnipeg and Randy is from La Salle, but those two are big community members and they're involved with the organizing committee so there are a lot of people here cheering for us. It'll be funny in the fourth end break of our match against Dunstone because I'm their coach, so I'll go over and chat with them, then get back to my team."

Matt Dunstone won 9-1 over Rob Fisher of Dauphin in the 12:15 draw as well and will go up against Team Neufeld Thursday morning in the 8:30 a.m. draw.

"Dunstone will be a battle that's for sure. Young against the old," Neufeld laughs. "I think if we play well we can get on a roll and that's all we can hope for." 

Find the full draw and live results from the Viterra Championship here.