When CurlManitoba’s Junior Championships got underway Thursday, February 22 in Carman, it was inevitable that two teams would be the centre of attention.
In the Junior Women’s event, Shaela Hayward’s Carman team is coming off a gold medal performance at the national U-18 championship and a week at the Manitoba Scotties in Morden where they posted a positive 3W-2L record.
In the Junior Men’s event, Jordon McDonald’s Assiniboine Memorial team is coming off a semi-final finish at the Viterra Championship which saw them tied coming home with the eventual champion Brad Jacobs-Reid Carruthers team. McDonald is also the two-time defending junior champion.
However, eight other teams in each competition are committed to the idea of disappointing the Hayward and McDonald teams when the Manitoba champion jackets and crests are handed out on Sunday.
The U-21 Women’s event features defending champion Zoey Terrick (Heather) whose team had a 3W-5L record after advancing to the Morden Scotties championship round; Dayna Wahl (Altona), Manitoba’s 2023 U-18 champion; and Emily Cherwinski (AMCC), who also gained valuable experience in the Scotties in Morden.
Gina Giasson (Killarney), Bethany Allen & Rylie Buchalter (Heather), Karys Buchalter (West St. Paul), and Robyn Buchel (East St. Paul) round out the U-21 Women’s team list.
The teams seeded Terrick as their top team with Hayward and Cherwinski as #2 and #3 respectively.
The U-21 Men’s nine-team field includes Rylan Campbell (West St. Paul), with a slightly different lineup from the one which won this year’s Manitoba U-18 title; Nash Sugden (Morden), Manitoba U-18 finalist and national Manitoba #2 team; and Jace Freeman (Virden), Manitoba’s 2023 U-18 champion.
Zach Norris (Morris), Tanner Graham & Colin Desaulniers (Heather), Ethan Marshall (Brandon) and Colton Olafson (Portage) complete the U-21 Men’s field.
The top three seeds in the U-21 Men’s draw were McDonald (#1), Freeman (#2), and Norris (#3).
The CurlManitoba Junior Championships have four draws through the day on Wednesday and Thursday with three draws on Saturday and Sunday. The final games of the two championships are scheduled for 5:00PM Sunday.
Complete end-by-end linescores are available at curlmanitoba.org.
CurlManitoba’s youtube channel will feature one livestream game per draw from the championships.
