Despite the start of CurlManitoba’s Asham U-18 Championships being delayed by last week’s storm, the event concluded on schedule Monday at the Riverton Curling Club, thanks to the efforts of the Riverton host committee and volunteers as well as the competing teams.

The final games ended with the teams skipped by Karys Buchalter – West St. Paul and Evan Boutet – Fort Garry winning the championships and earning the right to represent Manitoba at the national championship February 8-14, 2026 in Trimmins, ON.

The Asham U-18 Women’s championship was a re-match of last year’s final between Karys Buchalter – West St. Paul and Caitlyn McPherson – Gimli. The two placed first in their respective round robin pools this year. Team Buchalter was the only unbeaten women’s team with a 5W-0L record while Team McPherson finished with four wins in their five games.

In the final game, the fifth end was decisive as the Buchalter team stole five to jump ahead 8-2 enroute to a 9-2 victory.

Team Buchalter (Ainslee Card, Amy Buchalter, Eva Le Heiget, Coach Kelsey Meger, Assistant Coach Bryan Buchalter) had defeated defending champion Caitlyn McPherson – Gimli (Julie Magnusson, Jorja Buhr, Anais McCormick, Coach Shawn Magnusson) 6-4 in the Page 1-1 Playoff between the top teams in each pool.  Team McPherson bounced back with a 5-4 win in the semi-final over Ella Keough – Deer Lodge (Katie McDonald, Bailey Gunn, Skye Spulnick. Coach Rob Keough) to earn the final berth.

Team Keough, who had a 3W-2L record in round robin play, was second in the pool behind Buchalter. In the Page 2-2 Playoff, they defeated Joelle Plourde – Ste. Anne (Lu Abraham, Alyana Beaumont, Joséphine Jolicoeur, Coach Réal Jolicoeur) who had also finished the round robin with a 3W-2L record, in second place behind McPherson,

In the U-18 Men’s Championship game, the fifth end was also decisive. Evan Boutet’s Fort Garry team scored their second three of the game in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead over Tyler Graham’s Gimli team. Graham scored singles on the sixth and seventh ends to tie but Team Boutet won the game 7-6 with a single point coming home.

The Graham team (Jake Kowalchuk, Alex Newcombe, Johannes Magnusson, Coach Sheldon Kowalchuk) reached the final undefeated with a 4W-0L round robin record and a 7-1 win over Liam Burton – Heather in the Page 1-1 Playoff. Their final game opponent, Boutet’s Fort Garry team (Luc Cormier, Bryce Buchel, Quinn Lagace, Coach Blaine Malo) had earlier won the Page 2-2 playoff and the semi-final.

The semi-final was a Boutet 4-2 win over Team Burton (Tiernan Bertrand-Meadows, Myles Lagadi, Callum Smith, Coach Shelley Bertrand-Meadows). The semi-final was a re-match of the final round robin game which had been won by Team Burton to give them first place in the pool. It was the second consecutive semi-final loss for the Burton team in the U-18 provincial final.

Team Boutet had ended the round robin with a 3W-1L record and was Page 2-2 winner over Kaiden Andersen – Heather (Matt Le Heiget, Conner Kent, Maksym Russo, Coach Gerry Sande) who were also 3W-1L in the round robin.

A total of 22 teams, 10 U-18 Men and 12 U-18 Women, took part in the championship event in Riverton. This was up from 2024-25 when there were 18 teams (10M & 8W) and 2022-23 when there were 17 teams (7M & 10W). The 2023-24 entry was identical to this year (10M & 12W).