Hurrying hard to nationals

St. Boniface

Windsor Park

Evan Boutet technically started his curling career at two years old, if throwing paper towel rolls in the basement counts. Now, at age 16, the sport has become his life.

“I go to school, I go home, I curl,” he said.

It’s not an exaggeration. Boutet currently plays for three different teams — a provincial-champion U18 team out of Heather Curling Club, his undefeated high school team at College Béliveau, and a mixed doubles pair. He’s been skipping since he was 14, and currently skips all his teams. He’s also earned himself a partnership with Asham Curling Supplies, which supplies all of his competitive curling gear.

One way or another, the sport has followed him throughout his entire upbringing.

“I think (I curl) because most my family has done it for their whole life,” Boutet said, adding that he has a cousin, as well as a family friend, who have played for Team Manitoba in the seniors category. “I think just the community around me, and the people who were with me (growing up) … helped me go with it. And also, I just love playing it. It’s just really fun. And I love having it be my calming place.”

Boutet — alongside third Luc Cormier, second Bryce Buchel, lead Quinn Lagacé, and coach Blaine Malo — will soon be heading to Timmins, Ont., to compete at the 2026 Canadian U18 curling championships, which run from Feb. 8 to 14. The quartet earned their Manitoba jackets in December, when they won the Curl Manitoba U18 provincial championship over a Gimli-based team skipped by Tyler Graham.

While this is the first season they’ve competed together as a unit, an easy camaraderie, both on and off the ice, serves the players well. Asked how they were feeling about the upcoming nationals at a recent practice the words “excited” and “great” echoed assuredly around the table.

“We’ll have some fun,” said Buchel, 15. “We’ll have a good time.”

“Don’t think too much about tomorrow, or the next day, or the end of the week, or playoffs… just take every game one day at a time, and one rock at a time,” said Lagacé, 16. “And then it’s gonna work itself out.”

At practice, the players are working on their releases and making sure their rocks are in-line, Cormier said. Three of them use a ‘Manitoba tuck’ — a form of delivery in which the thrower’s front toe is the only part of that foot which touches the ice — and they seem to have their deliveries in order.

Asked if there may be any bumps in their road, Lagacé mentioned “off-the-ice distractions,” which brought laughter from his teammates.

“We’ll need to work on that,” Cormier, 18, said.

More seriously, all four agreed that facing teams from different provinces will present challenges. But Boutet said that he’s looking forward to learning from them, as well.

“You learn from what mistakes you’ve made,” he said.

Apart from preparing for the U18 nationals, Boutet is also trying to lead his Béliveau team — Lucas Antoniuk, Cooper Eagles, Parker Schwab, and Carter Vander Aa — to the MHSAA provincial championship. At press time, the team had two more games to go before they made the cut.

He said that having different team dynamics generally hasn’t affected his game.

“I play pretty similar for all the teams I’m on,” the Windsor Park resident said. “We’re all pretty happy together… you always play better when you’re happy.”

Beyond this season, Boutet said he’s hoping to take the sport as far as he can. The Manitoba jacket was his first goal, he explained, and now that he has that, he’s working toward the next big achievement. In the long run, he would like to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics.

“Go for it,” he said, when asked if he had any words of wisdom. “Start playing. It’s always good to play. You can play it for your whole life … no matter how old or how young you’re starting. It’s just a really fun sport. There’s no risks to it, it’s just lots of fun.”