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The player movement has already begun just days after the end of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games to conclude another curling quadrennial.
Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers has retired from competitive curling after over 20 years in the sport and Team Kate Cameron of the St. Adolphe Curling Club is breaking up the band.
The 41-year-old Carruthers is hanging up his broom and slider after a decorated curling career. Carruthers is an 11-time provincial champion, which includes nine Manitoba men’s curling titles. He won three of those championships as the second for Jeff Stoughton, two at the third position, and four more as a skip.
He also has two Brier victories, a World Championship, and two Grand Slam titles on his resume, while making 13 different appearances at the Brier.
It was recently announced he’ll be inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame, but he’s not leaving the sport entirely as he’ll be coaching Team Kerri Einarson at the upcoming World Championship before they re-evaluate their relationship in the off-season.
With another Olympic quad complete, Carruthers felt the time was right to end his playing career and entered the season knowing this was probably his last.
“Most of the teams form based off wanting to play for four years,” Carruthers said. “And I definitely don’t see myself wanting to do that at this point. I’m 41 now. I’ve tried getting to the Olympics. It’s one of those dreams that just doesn’t look like it’s in the cards for me and I’m perfectly fine with that.
“I’ve been very blessed to get to numerous Briers and it’s time to focus on other things in life and the primary reason would be my son.”
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Carruthers still hopes to curl in the occasional bonspiel, and he’ll stay involved in curling as he plans to continue teaching young curlers while also trying to grow the sport.
He also has a goal of adding a Manitoba senior title to his collection that already includes a junior, mixed, and men’s championship.
“I don’t see myself completely walking away from the game,” said Carruthers. “I’ve won a Manitoba junior championship once. I won a men’s once, a mixed. What’s after that comes seniors, so, I guess once I hit 50, I’m just going to put this out on the airwaves now, anyone that’s going to be 50 around the age that I turn 50, let’s start planning in advance because I’d like to go to a senior championship as well.”
Carruthers also credits joining Jeff Stoughton’s rink in his mid 20s for his success later on his career.
“I was very fortunate to get that call at a young age,” he said. “I started on his team when I would have been about 24 and at that age, you’re still very young in your curling career. There’s still lots to learn and I got to learn from the greatest Manitoba curler of all time in Jeff. We had great teammates.”
According to Carruthers, his former team of third BJ Neufeld, second Catlin Schneider, and lead Connor Njegovan are still deciding their future.
Team Cameron announced their breakup on social media after the rink was originally formed three seasons ago. Cameron, third Briane Harris, second Taylor McDonald, and lead Mackenzie Elias are going their separate ways.
“Kate Cameron, Taylor McDonald and Mackenzie Elias started this team three seasons ago, and have shared many great moments along the way,” the team posted on Instagram. “We were lucky enough to add Briane Harris this past season to push for our Olympic dreams.
“Although the season didn’t receive the results we hoped for, we remain great friends and will forever be cheering each other on in whatever is next.”
Cameron, McDonald, and Elias won the 2025 Manitoba women’s title with Allison Flaxey after Meghan Walter stepped back from the sport following the 2024 season.
After adding Harris to the lineup this season they were knocked out in the provincial women’s semifinal and didn’t qualify for any of the tier one Grand Slam events as their ranking slipped to 35th in the world.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
