Top junior curlers prepare for Manitoba championships

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This article was published 22/12/2017 (3150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s only one big deal on Boxing Day that matters to Manitoban junior curlers this year.

The 2018 provincial junior women’s and men’s championships begin Tuesday, Dec. 26 in Altona, and home-town favourite Mackenzie Zacharias and 2017 champion J.T. Ryan of Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club are the top seeds.

Zacharias and Ryan are also the door-crashers, as both play on the opening draw on arena ice at Millennium Exhibition Centre. The event, taking part at the arena and the adjoining Altona Curling Club, wraps up with the finals on Sunday, Dec. 31.

Ryan says he steers clear of the malls anyway, so beginning the defence of his Manitoba junior men’s title the day after Christmas is just fine with him.

“We’re on the ice that night at 7:45 p.m. It’s really all we’re focusing on right now, winning that first game,” said Ryan, who is joined again by third Jacques Gauthier and lead Brendan Bilawka. Playing second is Colin Kurz, replacing Graham McFarlane, who has aged out of juniors.

“There’s a ton of good teams in this event and you never want to look ahead and think, ‘We should beat this team.’ You have to take it one game at a time. Anyone could win it. It’s all pretty even here in Manitoba.”

The Ryan foursome collides with Jayden Rutter of Winkler on the first draw of the six-day championships.

Rounding out the top-five seeds for the junior men’s event are Brayden Payette of Brandon, and a trio of Winnipeg teams: Brandon Radford of Pembina, Ryan Wiebe of St. Vital and Hayden Forrester of Fort Rouge.

A year ago, Ryan guided his crew to a 7-3 victory over championship favourite Braden Calvert of the Granite Curling Club in the final to secure a spot in the nationals in Esquimalt, B.C. Out west, the Winnipeggers blasted out of the hack with six straight victories, but then suffered a couple of defeats before getting bounced in a tiebreaker.

Brimming with confidence, the team purposely created a jam-packed schedule for the 2017-18 season, participating in some out-of-town junior bonspiels and several men’s events on the Manitoba Curling Tour, said Ryan, the son 1995 world men’s champion Jeff Ryan.

He said the experience of playing a lot, coupled with having a Manitoba title already on his resume, provides a certain level of comfort heading to Altona.

“There’s still pressure to try to do it again, but we know we’ll always have at least that one,” said the 19-year-old University of Winnipeg business student. “We played a ton of games this year and got some travelling in, so when you hang out with the guys together it’s a great way for the four of us to bond.

“We lost a final in Ottawa, we lost a final in Brandon and we qualified in every event of the men’s. We still haven’t actually won a bonspiel, yet. It would have been nice to win at least one of them, but the big one is really this one coming up.”

In junior women’s play, a new champion will be crowned, as 2017 champion Laura Burtnyk of Assiniboine Memorial has aged out.

The second on the Burtnyk team, Sara Oliver, is still eligible and will curl with No. 2-seed Meghan Walter of Elmwood. Oliver actually is a back-to-back champion, after winning with Abby Ackland of Fort Rouge in 2016.

But the Zacharias quartet from Altona goes in as the favourite.

“We’re really excited about playing in our community,” said Zacharias, 18, a first-year University of Manitoba student. She skips a team with her 16-year-old sister, Emily, at second. The siblings hooked up with Gaetanne Gauthier, who is tossing third stones, and lead Ashley Groff.

“It’s pretty cool to be ranked No.1, especially at home. It’s going to be amazing to have so many friends and family so close to come out and watch. Hopefully the stands are filled and they’re cheering us on. That would be fantastic.

“There’s a little bit of pressure being from this town and being the No.1 seed, but I think we’re just more excited to get out there and play our best for the crowd.”

Groff and Gauthier, both 21 and in their final year of junior eligibility, have played in some pressure-packed games in the past and have been welcomed additions.

“We’ve learned so much from them. They’ve been on top-ranked teams before, so they know what it’s like to have expectations placed on you,” said Mackenzie, who lost to Burtnyk in last year’s semifinal. “We’ve clicked really well. We’ve competed in a bunch of events this season and are growing together as a team and becoming really confident together. We’re starting to hit our peak right now.”

Incredibly, the Zacharias sisters have captured three straight under-18 Manitoba girls championships, but are pumped for a chance to win a junior crown and qualify for the national championships in Shawinigan, Que., from Jan. 13-21.

The Zacharias foursome’s first game is against Rossmere’s Katy Lukowich — the daughter of former Manitoba men’s champion Mark Lukowich — on the 7:45 p.m. draw Tuesday.

Rebecca Lamb of Stonewall, Alex Friesen of Assiniboine Memorial and Shae Bevan of St. Vital round out the top five junior women’s seeds.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell