Red Deer's Team Desormeau looks to capture gold at nationals. (Rory Whitbread/ submitted)

By Ian Gustafson

First appearance

Red Deer’s Team Desormeau ready to compete at U18 curling nationals

Feb 15, 2025 | 1:31 PM

Red Deer-based Team Abby Desormeau will compete against the best teams from across the country this weekend at the 2025 Canadian Under-18 Curling Championships in Saskatoon.

Led by skip Abby Desormeau, they’ll hope to compete for gold at nationals in the seven-day tournament with third Molly Whitbread, second Camryn Adams, lead Savannah Dutka, and alternate Julia Kennedy. Kennedy often rotates in as third and they’ll continue that trend at nationals this week.

Their journey begins with two games on Sunday at the Nutana Curling Club against PEI’s Team Pater at 8:30 a.m. followed by B.C.’s Team Arndt at 4:30 p.m.

They’ll then faceoff against Quebec’s Team Morrissette on Monday, Feb. 17 at 12:30 p.m. and Ontario’s Team Wilson at 8:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, Feb. 19 they’ll play Saskatchewan’s Team Wood and their final match before the playoff round is set for Feb. 20 at 12:30 p.m. against Northern Ontario’s Team Dubinsky.

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“We’re very excited,” Whitbread said. “For all of us it’s our first time so we’re super excited to get things started.”

Desormeau added it’s a challenge to know what to expect as they haven’t played against a majority of the teams in attendance. However, they remain locked in on putting forward their best effort.

“We’re just making sure we stay focused and play how we usually play to hopefully find success,” Desormeau said.

Red Deer’s Team Desormeau looks to capture gold at nationals. (Rory Whitbread/ submitted)

More than 175 young curlers from across Canada are competing in the tournament.

There are 21 teams each on the boys and girls side, who are divided into pools of seven.

They’ll play a six-game round robin and the top four teams from each pool advancing to a championship bracket.

The 12 advancing teams will be seeded based on record in the tournament, with the top four earning a bye to the quarterfinals. The next eight teams will need to play one game to reach that round.

For the pool teams that don’t advance to the championship round, there will be two more “ranking” games, which will help determine the seeding at next year’s event.

Team Desormeau earned their way to nationals after finishing second at the Alberta Optimist U18 Girls Provincial Curling Championship last month in Leduc. They lost to Okotoks’ Team Alena Yurko, who will also represent Alberta at nationals, in the provincial final.

“When we won our 1-2 playoff game we already knew we would go to nationals so in the final we were really only focused on winning provincials,” Desormeau said. “It was a really hard loss but we’re really excited at the opportunity represent our province.”

Whitbread, Adams, Dutka, and Kennedy had all played together last season but picked up Desormeau as their skip prior to the beginning of this year. Desormeau and Whitbread represent the Pidherney Centre in Red Deer. Meanwhile, Adams, Dutka, and Kennedy represent their club in Beaumont.

“We’re all super great friends on and off the ice so I think our friendship has helped get us here,” Whitbread said. “We’ve all had the same goal in mind and wanted to make it this national level. When we finally made it we were super excited to go together.”

“We’re super honoured to have this opportunity and so thankful to our home club and our family’s, teammates, and coaches who’ve made it all possible for us,” Desormeau added. “We’re so grateful”

Scores can be found on the Curling Canada website.