Evan Boutet – Heather (Tiernan Bertrand-Meadows, Bryce Buchel Quinn Lagacé, Coach Blaine Malo, Assistant Coach Deb Popovic) will represent Manitoba in the Men’s Division of the Canada Games next February in Quebec City.
Team Boutet won CurlManitoba’s Canada Games Trials this weekend at the Pembina Curling Club with a perfect 7W-0L record. Six round robin wins gave the Heather team a bye to the final where they defeated Tyler Graham – Gimli (Jake Kowalchuk, Alex Newcombe, Johannes Magnusson, Coach Shawn Magnusson, Assistant Coach Sheldon Kowalchuk).
Graham had finished in third place with a 4W-2L record behind the 5W-1L Jesse Fehr team from Morden (Andrew & Thomas Rothenberger, Parker Schwab, Coach Ryan Schwab).
The win caps a very successful season for Team Boutet. Boutet, Buchel and Lagacé were winners of the CurlManitoba U18 and U20 championships this season. Lagacé also won the Canada Games Mixed Doubles trials.
In the Canada Games Trials Women’s Division, Ainslee Card and her West St. Paul team (Eva Le Heiget, Amy Buchalter, Skye Spulnick, Coach Kelsey Meger, Assistant Coach Bryan Buchalter) needed a steal on an extra end to defeat Ste. Anne’s Ally Fleming (Joelle Plourde, Alyana Beaumont, Chloe Winkler, Coach Rob Fleming, Assistant Coach Christine Beaumont) in the final.
Team Card had finished with a 4W-0L record and Team Fleming had three wins in four starts to top their respective round robin pools. The two met in the Page 1v1 playoff game with Team Card winning to advance to the final. Team Fleming won the semifinal over Ellie Friesen’s Altona team which had beaten Jillian Diotte’s Charleswood foursome in the Page 2v2 playoff.
Every four years at the Canada Games, the Men’s or Women’s 4’s competition must overlap the Mixed Doubles competition, making it impossible for a person to compete in both disciplines. At the 2027 Games, the Women’s and Mixed Doubles competition will be in conflict. This means, as per the CurlManitoba Canada Games Selection policy, Mixed Doubles Champion Eva Le Heiget (partner Quinn Lagacé) will need to choose which discipline she will play. If she chooses to play with her women’s 4’s team, the Manitoba representative for Mixed Doubles will then be the runner-up team from the Canada Games trials.
