Three intrepid young curlers are off to their second major national competition in as many years. Team Bindig curls out of the Wadena ReMax Curling Club with three curlers from Wadena and the second, Brayden Fleischhacker, who hails from Fulda, just north of Humboldt. Fleischhacker is no stranger to high-level competition having just come off the Saskatchewan Mixed Doubles Provincials in Weyburn a few short weeks ago. The National U 18 competition is slated for April 2nd - 7th at the Glen Allan Recreation Complex.

Fleischhacker introduced us to his team, "We are skipped by Jayden Bindig, my third is Nathen Pomedli, and lead is Ethan Nygaard."

As noted, Fleischhacker has a background in high-level curling, this being his fourth U 18 competition and his second victory. The road to the final was not an easy one. The team started the spiel with a pair of wins, but the road became rocky with a pair of losses. Going into the final stretch with a 2-2 record did not overwhelm the seasoned team. Fleischhacker comments. "We knew we couldn't afford any more losses and we had to buckle down and go five straight or we didn't have any chance. Everybody started shooting better and better every game. By the fifth game, we were ready to go."

When it came to the final, Fleischhacker and the team worked against the nerves. "In any final, you get a little nervous, but that's ok. It means you're ready to go. It was a really close game trading singles back and forth. We finally got a deuce, the first deuce of the game. In the fifth end, we managed to steal another two and that really set the tone. After we had a four-point lead, everybody was calm, and we knew we just had to keep making our hits and chances are good that we'd win the game."

The team expects to see some familiar faces from past years at the Nationals. The stakes are high, and the competition will be tough, but Team Bindig is anxious to begin the chase.