Walter chasing elusive junior curling title

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2020 (2050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEDOSA — Meghan Walter is aiming to shake the monkey off her back and replace it with a Buffalo.

The 18-year-old has not won a provincial title at the junior level, despite making five finals. Walter lost three under-18 provincial finals in a row, and two under-21 title games. Most recently, she fell 5-4 in the U18 final in Swan River last year to Dauphin’s Emma Jensen.

The Winnipeg native has her sights set on changing all that this weekend at the U18 women’s provincials at the Minnedosa Curling Complex. Walter and her team of third Serena Gray-Withers, second Becky Friesen and lead Julia Millan are 4-0 heading into today’s game against Tansy Tober at 11:30 a.m.

“The losses get us going,” Walter said following a 10-1 win over Bethany Allan on Friday.

“We build off them and we want to keep trucking. Our end goal is to always win a provincial title.”

Walter played third on Colin Kurz’s team which included second Brendan Bilawka and lead Sara Oliver that won the Manitoba and Canadian mixed title in 2019.

Canada went on to beat Germany 6-5 in the final to win gold in Aberdeen, Scotland as Walter became the youngest-ever world champion.

“I honestly couldn’t imagine being a world champion at 17,” she said. “Winning an adult event before a junior event is kind of surprising.”

Winning the gold medal in Scotland, after suffering all the heart break in the junior ranks, proved to Walter she could curl at an elite level.

“I knew I had the power to be at that level so I think it just means that you can do more than you think you can if you put your mind to it,” she said.

Walter has been able to learn from her losses in provincial finals.

“For us it’s taken us a little bit longer, so I think we’ve learned from our mistakes,” she said. “We’ve watched the top curlers in the grand slams to see how they bounce back from losses and we are doing just what they’ve been building off.”

A curler such as Kerri Einarson from Gimli, who Walter actually beat 8-4 to win the mixed provincial title, can provide inspiration for Walter. Einarson won the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts and subsequently went on to win the national title with a thrilling extra-end victory over Rachel Homan of Ontario.

Einarson had suffered a lot of tough losses on the ice, but after assembling a team of skips, they reached the pinnacle of Canadian women’s curling.

“She has proven herself over the years and I think putting the team with all just skips, not a lot of people trusted their gut on that team,” Walter said.

“Them having some heartbreaking losses on the (Grand) Slams this year and then proving themselves at provincials and obviously nationals, I think it just gives a good outlook for junior women’s curling and I think we can all look up to them now.”

Walter lost her first provincial final at the age of 15, and her dad and coach, Frank, said it’s been tough to see her lose but remains optimistic.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch her grow and get better each time,” Frank said. “Yeah, it’s heart breaking too. Of those five losses every one of them is a bit of a choker.”

Frank stressed how curling is a mental game, and sometimes your worst enemy can be yourself.

“You try to strive to get them to play to the best of their abilities, when they’re younger it’s also a big mindset too,” he said. “It’s not just the ability to curl but now it’s a mental issue too. Making sure that you stay focused, making sure that if you do give up a big end in points, you don’t get too rattled. Hoping that you can just re-focus, start the next end, get right back into it and away you go.”

Frank said Meghan has been able to bounce back better after allowing a big end or missing a shot.

“She re-focuses and the team re-focuses to the next end,” he said.

“(You) get a couple of points back and then who knows what can happen from there. You might be able to steal a few points, you might be able to force them to one, get the hammer back and away you go. There’s a lot of mental in the game as well. You have to keep your head in the game.”

Despite the losses, Meghan has a bright future in the roaring game.

“There’s always going to be heart break losses with any sport,” Frank said.

“I see ourselves looking up from here, not going down, but looking up. I’d like to think that perhaps this is the year. I don’t want to jinx it, I’m keeping my fingers crossed because we’ve seen it all, so anything can happen.”

Frank has curled competitively in the past, having been at the Manitoba men’s provincials five times. He was most recently at the Viterra Championship in Winnipeg last month with his son Brett, who won the U21 provincial final over Jacques Gauthier in early January.

Gauthier still went to nationals and won both the Canadian and world junior titles alongside Brandonite Brayden Payette.

Frank has been coaching Meghan since she began competitively curling at the age of eight.

“When I used to curl, I always dreamt of getting the Buffalo on my back and representing the province,” he said. “Now my only version of representing the province is as coach with the Buffalo on my back that way.

“It’s still a Buffalo and you know what, coming out of this province, it’s special. It’s very special for any league, any player if you can win a Buffalo in this province, you’re doing well.”

Frank said Brett doesn’t bug his sister Meghan about not winning a provincial title a the junior level, because Meghan has the world title to counter with.

To win this U18 provincial title in her final year of eligibility would mean a lot to both Meghan and Frank.

“We’ve been working at this for pretty much the entire season,” she said. “I think all of us would appreciate it so much. I know some people say it’s just U18 but I think this is a provincial event and you want to play as best as you can. I think it would mean the world to us for us to win this weekend.”

If all goes to plan, the women’s final in Minnedosa is set for Sunday at 4 p.m.

» rstelter@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @steltsy94