Two curlers who grew up in Olds the last few years are going to the Junior Men's Provincials in Edmonton Jan. 4-8.
Colton Goller, 21, and his brother Kurtis Goller, 19, are members of a junior men's rink that qualified for the Provincials after they won the Southern Alberta Men's championship in early December in Medicine Hat.
Colton is the skip. Kurtis is the second. Other members of the team are third Tyler Lautner of Calgary, lead Nick Rabl of Lethbridge and coach Jim Lautner of Calgary.
Their mom, Carolyn Walker, is very proud of their accomplishment.
She notes Colton curled with the Olds men's league and skipped the Olds College men's team for two years while he was a student there.
“He had two teams when he was going to college here. He skipped the Olds College men's team and he also had a junior team as well at the same time,” she says.
Kurtis graduated from Olds High School a year-and-a-half ago. When in Grade 12, he was a member of that school's curling team.
Colton is pretty confident they'll do well.
“When we get there, we have a pretty good chance of winning the province. It's hard to say, because everybody brings their A game, but we're ranked second in Alberta now on the tour standings so that means quite a bit going into it as well,” he says.
“We're peaking at the right time. We just get better and better as each week goes by.”
The team has been pretty dominant this year.
“I don't know how many games we've played during the year but we've only lost four. We've probably played around 30 to 40 games,” Colton says.
Kurtis is also pretty confident the team will do well in Provincials.
“We were in Southerns at the beginning of December. We went 3-0 there and we were the number 1 qualifier coming out of the South for the Provincials,” he says.
“I think we're feeling pretty confident going in. We're one of the top-ranked teams going into it, so we feel pretty confident that we can win.”
Another reason for that confidence is the Provincials are being held at the Saville Centre in Edmonton.
The team played there in November and won that bonspiel so Kurtis says they know the ice there. Colton agrees.
Kurtis was asked if the team has any advantage over other teams they'll be facing.
“I don't think we have any particular advantage over other teams,” he says. “I think we're one of the teams that are most fundamentally sound and can compete consistently.”
He notes most of the team has played together for a while so they know each other well.
Kurtis, Colton and Rabl have played together for two years. Tyler Lautner has been with them for a year now.
Kurtis has been curling competitively for about seven years. Colton has only been curling for about five years.
“I didn't have the chance to play competitively until I was much older,” he says.
Kurtis is drawn to the game – pun intended.
“I just like competition and you've always got to strive to be consistent,” he says. “It's such an important thing in curling – consistency.”
In the summer, Kurtis plays lacrosse with the Olds Mavericks while Colton plays golf on a casual basis.
Kurtis figures playing other sports helps their curling game.
“It just kind of keeps your mentality in because you know if you play other sports and you kept going with the same mentality that you do with the other sports (that you'll do well),” he says.
"I think we're feeling pretty confident going in. We're one of the top-ranked teams going into it, so we feel pretty confident that we can win."KURTIS GOLLER
