Ste Anne curler to don Buffalo at U18 nationals

Tyler Graham will be representing the province as his team takes to the ice for the U18 Junior Curling Championships in Timmons, Ont. in February.

Team Graham, skipped by Tyler, went undefeated in pool play and won the page playoff to lock up a spot in the provincial qualifier. The top two teams advance to nationals, so a tough loss to Team Boutet in the final didn’t stop them from earning provincial representation rights.

The first game of the tournament was a turning point. Down three in the seventh end, Graham scored four to flip the score, before eventually forcing a miss in the extra end to steal a win.

“We just staggered up the front and hoped and prayed,” Graham said with a laugh in between volunteer shifts at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Players’ Championship in Steinbach.

The team also features third Jake Kowalchuk (Camp Morton), second Alex Newcombe (Winnipeg) and lead Johannes Magnusson (Riverton). It’s coached by Sheldon Kowalchuk.

“We like rocks in play, but it all depends on the opponent we’re playing,” Graham said when asked how the team likes to play.

“A lot of teams we play are very aggressive and go around the centre guard (with the second shot). There’s a couple teams we play that put a lot of rocks in play and we have to manage that.”

The high performance U18 ranks in Manitoba feature the same teams playing over and over again throughout the years. Junior participation is on the rise, with more high performance U18 teams popping up around the province.

“We play a ton of good opponents, we always like having good games,” Graham, who is in grade 11 said.

“When we were younger playing U15, we only got six, eight teams and now we’re up to 13 or 14, it’s really nice to see.”

Team Graham formed when the players met through high performance curling ranks in Manitoba. They curl out of the Gimli Curling Club, but practice across the province.