Team Alberta faces National Teams, USA and Japan at
U18 International Curling Championships
CALGARY – Fresh from their victory at the 2014 Alberta Juvenile Provincial Curling Championships, Calgary’s Team Lautner will face off against Japanese, American and fellow Canadian provincial champions at the Optimist U18 International Curling Championships set for April 2 to 6 in B.C.
Team Lautner will represent Alberta at the under 18 championships co-hosted by the Cloverdale Curling Club in Surrey and the Langley Curling Centre in Langley.
“We’re excited to represent Alberta at the U18 Championships,” says 17-year-old skip Tyler Lautner of Calgary. “We’re ready. We’ve had a great run on the bonspiel circuit this season and we’re looking forward to meeting some new teams and the high level of play at the international competition.”
Lautner’s team includes third Mark Taylor (17) of Calgary, second Jared Latos (16) of Lloydminster and lead Connor Lenton (17) of Airdrie. Connor’s father Blair Lenton coaches the young team in their first year playing together on the AB Junior Curling Tour.
The road to the provincial title was a long one for the young curlers, who successfully made their way out of three levels of playdowns, from Districts to Southerns and onto Juvenile Provincials. With a 4-1 record in round robin play, Team Lautner won the provincial title at the Highwood Curling Club
in High River, Alberta on March 2.
Team Tyler Lautner competed in 10 events on the Alberta Junior Curling Tour and in bonspiel play, they have pocketed over $4,800 so far for the season – finishing in the money in every event they entered. In December, the team won the Ray Kingsmith Memorial Bonspiel, which had a top prize of $4,000 in post secondary scholarships.
The team’s recent Juvenile provincial title pushed them to 97.5 points on the AB Junior Curling Tour, second only to Tyler’s brother, Carter Lautner’s team, the reigning Junior Provincial champions with 110 points.
Team Tyler Lautner trains at the Calgary Winter Club, whose curling programs have produced some of the finest curling talent in the world, including Olympic bronze medalists Ed Lukowich (1988) and Shannon Kleibrink (2006).
“Having a winning season is great, but it’s a lot of travel,” says Lautner. “This season would never have been possible without the amazing support of our families and our sponsors. Thanks goes out to Juice Plus and dentist Dr. Rhona Gearty of Calgary and to the Sheepskin Loft in Lloydminster.”
The U18 curling event began in 2001, primarily due to the efforts of Bill Hans from the Calgary Youth Curling Association. Curling coordinators across Canada saw the need to promote a younger aged developmental process in order to generate more interest in curling and in competition. In 2003, with the support of many local Canadian Optimist International club sponsorships, the competition took a giant step by inviting international teams to the 2003 International Championships hosted in Cloverdale/Langley, BC.
In 2013, Alberta men finished third with Manitoba taking gold and Ontario silver. Alberta’s U18 women’s team for 2014 is Team Schmiemann out of the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton.
You can follow Team Lautner on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamLautnerCurl or on Twitter@TeamLautnerCurl
