Thirty of Manitoba’s most accomplished U20 curlers will compete in CurlManitoba’s Canada Games Trials beginning at 2PM, Friday, November 25 at the Heather Curling Club.
The 2-person teams competing at the Heather will play in three pools of five. Two teams in each pool will advance to a straight knockout playoff with the top two teams earning a bye to the semi-finals.
While very few of the team combinations have competed often in Mixed Doubles competition, many of the individuals playing this weekend have had the opportunity to play the Mixed Doubles Tour and other events in the past two years.
The field features several players with proven track records and national competition experience with their four-person teams. These include:
** Zoey Terrick and Cassidy Dundas, who were teammates on the 2022 Manitoba U18 Women’s Champion team. Terrick will partner with Tanner Graham on a Heather team. Dundas will partner with her brother Hunter Dundas, playing out of Neepawa.
** Jordon McDonald and Cameron Olafson, who were teammates on the 2022 Manitoba U18 Men’s Champion team. McDonald also won the 2019 and 2022 U18 Championship and the 2022 U21 Men’s Championship. McDonald will partner with Mikaylah Lyburn on a Deer Lodge team.
** Luke Robins, who was a member of Ryan Ostrowsky’s Manitoba #2 team at the 2022 U18 national championship. He will partner with Rylie Buchalter on a West St. Paul team.
** Katy Lukowich, who skipped Northern Ontario to an overall 7-3 record at the 2022 U21 nationals, including a first place round robin record in her pool. She will partner with Thomas McGillivary on a Granite team.
CurlManitoba’s Canada Games Trials at the Heather will feature draws at 2PM and 6PM, Friday; 10AM, 2PM, and 6PM, Saturday and playoffs on Sunday.
For the first time, Mixed Doubles curling has been included in the Canada Games and this weekend event is designed to identify the final members of Manitoba’s curling contingent. Earlier this month, Team Dayna Wahl (Altona) and Team Jace Freeman (Virden) earned the opportunity to represent Manitoba in the Women’s and Men’s competitions respectively at the Canada Games in Prince Edward Island in February.
