The Riverton Curling Club will host the season’s first Manitoba curling championship events when the Asham U18 Men’s and Women’s Championships this weekend – although today’s start has been delayed by the first winter storm of the season. Today’s planned 4:30 start has moved to Friday morning. The event will continue through the weekend to playoffs on Monday in Riverton.

One draw, at 9am Saturday, will be played in Gimli.

Thirteen different Manitoba clubs are represented in the fields of 10 young men’s teams and 12 young women’s teams. Four clubs; East St. Paul, West St. Paul, Morden, and Gimli are represented in both competitions.

Last year’s championships were won by the Nash Sugden-Morden team and the Caitlyn McPherson-Gimli team.

In the U18 Women’s competition, both of last year’s finalists return, with only one line-up change. Gimli’s Caitlyn McPherson returns with two of her teammates from a year ago (Julie Magnusson and Jorja Buhr) and newcomer Anais McCormick. They are coached by Shawn Magnusson. They finished last year’s championship with an 8W-1L record and the championship.

In 2024, the McPherson team defeated Karys Buchalter (West St. Paul) in the final. Buchalter returns with the same line-up (Ainslee Card, Amy Buchalter, Eva Le Heiget, Coach Kelsey Meger and Assistant Coach Bryan Buchalter) which accumulated a 6W-2L record a year ago.

The story is different in the U18 Men’s competition. The Sugden team has aged out of U18 competition and only one member of the 2025 finalist team is returning. Hudson Strand who played lead a year ago, gaining experience with the finalist Logan Zacharias team, returns as skip of his own team.

Strand’s West St. Paul team comprises Luke Jonasson, Evan Traczuk, Cooper Eagles and Coach Craig Strand. They face strong competition including the skips of the other two playoff teams from a year ago.

Kieran Callewaert (St. Vital) lost the Page 2-2 game a year ago and finished with a 3W-3L record. His new team this year includes Cooper Steele, Brady Wiens, Parker Schwab and Coach Ryan Schwab. The winner of that 2-2 game, with a 4W-2L record was Heather’s Liam Burton whose team returns intact. He is supported by Tiernan Bertrand-Meadows, Myles Lagadi, Callum Smith and Coach Shelley Bertrand-Meadows.

Entries in the U18 Women’s championship come from East St. Paul and Swan River, two each, with singles from Charleswood, Deer Lodge, Gimli, Gladstone, Morden, Ste. Anne, Virden, and West St. Paul.

Entries in the U18 Men’s event include three from the Heather, two from Morden, and single entries from Assiniboine Memorial, East St. Paul, Gimli, St. Vital, and West St. Paul.

Since the U18 Championship began in 2013, teams from eleven different clubs have won the championship. Only St. Vital has won it twice, when Jordon McDonald’s teams won back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.

Teams from eight different clubs have won the U18 Women’s event. Altona leads the way with four, including the three consecutive won by Mackenzie Zacharias teams from 2014 to 2016 and the one by the Dayna Wahl team in 2023.

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