CurlManitoba crowned its second three-time Junior Men’s champion in seven years and a rare twice-in-a-season Junior Women’s champion when the Manitoba Juniors wrapped up in Carman Sunday.
Jordon McDonald and his Assiniboine Memorial team (Dallas Burgess, Elias Huminicki, Cameron Olafson, Coach William Lyburn) scored three coming home to defeat Jace Freeman and his Virden team (Ryan Ostrowsky, Nick Senff, Luke Robins, Coach Graham Freeman) in the final game. For the win, McDonald made a delicate shot past a centre line guard to remove the Freeman shot stone in the top of the 12-foot circle.
The teams had split two previous meetings during the event with McDonald winning the “A” qualifying game and Freeman winning the Page 1-2 Playoff game on an extra end.
It is the third consecutive Manitoba Junior Men’s title for McDonald and Huminicki, matching the record set in 2017-2018-2019 by JT Ryan and Jacques Gauthier. It was a second consecutive Manitoba win for Olafson. Burgess was the Northern Ontario champion a year ago.
In the semi-final, Team McDonald defeated Zach Norris and his Morris team. Earlier, they had eliminated Rylan Campbell (West St. Paul) in the Page 3-4 Playoff game.
Hometown fans and the chance to play at home in the Junior Women’s championship could have been stressful for the Shaela Hayward team (Keira Krahn, India Young, Rylie Cox, Coach Diane Hayward, mentor-Coach Ron Westcott) but it proved to be very welcoming instead. The Carman team, recently returned from a gold medal run at the national U-18 Championship, went undefeated to win their second provincial title of the season.
Team Hayward played defending champion Zoey Terrick and her Heather team (Cassidy Dundas, Tessa Terrick, Jensen Letham, Coach Clint Cullen) in the provincial final. They jumped out to a 7-3 lead after six ends but Team Terrick fought back to trail by only one after eight ends. A deuce on the ninth gave the Carman team a 3-point lead coming home and they ran their opponents out of rocks for a 9-6 win.
In the semi-final, Terrick defeated Emily Cherwinski (AMCC). Earlier, Cherwinski had beaten Rylie Buchalter (Heather) in the Page 3-4 Playoff game.
The annual Manitoba Juniors Susan Galbraith Sportsmanship Awards were presented to Maddy Hollins (Team Cherwinski lead) and Tanner Treichel (second on the Nash Sugden Morden team).
The junior championship coaching awards were presented to Albert Bazinet (Coach of Team Norris) and Deb Popovic (Coach of Bethany Allan).
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