Zacharias joins Manitoba’s elite

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This article was published 20/12/2021 (1388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mackenzie Zacharias can add another accolade to her already impressive portfolio.

The 22-year-old skip from Altona, along with third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine, won her first Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Sunday evening at the Carberry Plains Community Centre in a 7-5 contest with Kristy Watling’s rink from Assiniboine Memorial in Winnipeg.

The rink will now represent the province at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which will run from Jan. 28-Feb. 6 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

“It’s still hard to believe,” Zacharias said. “This is a tournament that Jennifer Jones and Kerri Einarson have won before.

“We’ve watched this game year-after-year and we all know what a big deal this is. We didn’t know coming out of juniors when our next opportunity would be to wear the yellow jackets and we’re just thrilled that it came so early in our women’s career.”

While this is the first time that the Zacharias rink will don the Buffalo at the Scotties, this will mark the second straight trip to the event for the 2020 Canadian and World Junior champions.

They earned one of three wildcard spots for the bubble in Calgary last winter, where they posted a 2-4 record and missed out on the championship pool.

“We were just coming out of juniors at that point so we were a little bit star-struck to be there,” Zacharias said. “Now that we’ve got a few more women’s events under our belts, such as the Olympic pre-trials and a few more tour events, we have a better idea of what to expect.

“It will be a little bit different since it’s not in a bubble compared to last year, but we feel like we’re more a comfortable and confident team than we were in Calgary. We’re not sure what the schedule is going to be like for us yet (due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic) but we’re looking forward to going back to the Scotties.”

Sunday’s triumph was the fifth in a row for the squad, which needed to win their last Asham Express Red Group game over Beth Peterson on Friday afternoon in order to make the championship round.

“We weren’t playing at our best early on and we really hadn’t had a good peak during the entire season,” Burgess said. “We had a good team talk on Thursday night (after a 9-3 loss to Kristy McDonald) and we discussed what we needed to work on and do differently.

“It all just clicked after that. We played five great games against some really good teams and we found the groove that we wanted to get in.”

Zacharias and Burgess made several key shots during the back-and-forth final, with the skip’s best contribution coming in the fourth end.

Facing three Watling stones on her last, Zacharias made an impressive draw to the four-foot past a pair of guards for a single point to take a 3-2 lead.

“I’m so happy that it curled,” Zacharias smiled.

“We had played that spot earlier in the game so we knew that it (the rock) would do that, and it did. I have to give props to the sweepers (Burgess and Emily Zacharias) and Lauren for the line call.”

With the game tied 5-5 and withthe hammer coming home in the 10th, the Zacharias team played a great final end, which is something the skip admitted that they had struggled with during the course of the week.

After Watling’s last draw came to a stop in the back 12-foot, the skip made a hit for two to capture the title.

“Lauren played two amazing tick shots and everything came together after that,” Zacharias said. “We played that end exactly how we wanted to.”

“Once Lauren made those perfect ticks, you are just hoping for a miss at that point,” Watling added. “We made eight perfect shots without hammer in the final end, but they did as well. Our hats are off to their whole team. They were phenomenal today.”

Watling, who plays with third Hailey Ryan, second Emilie Rafnson and lead Sarah Pyke, turned in a strong performance in her first Manitoba Scotties final.

Her biggest shot came in the eighth end when she made a hit for one while facing four Zacharias stones to tie things up at five and set the stage for the finish when Zacharias blanked the ninth.

“I think I had way more nerves in the semifinal than I did in the final,” Watling joked. “It’s tough to put into words but I’m so proud of how the girls played. We really battled all game and I couldn’t ask for more from them.”

“This is our first year as a team and our goal for the season was to qualify for half of our bonspiels, get to the Scotties and qualify for the championship group. To get to the provincial final is above and beyond what we had hoped for and I’m beyond excited to see what we can do from here.”

Watling defeated clubmate Kaitlyn Jones by a score of 8-6 in the semifinal Sunday.

“We just wanted to come out this morning and have a really good game,” Watling said after the game. “Luckily for us, they missed a couple of key shots and we were able to come out with the win.”

Watling was able to build up a 4-1 advantage after four ends in the semifinal, thanks in large part to a steal of two points in the third and another steal in the fourth frame, where Jones had a chance to score a mittful of points but crashed on a guard.

Jones bounced back to tie things up at four in the fifth end, however, as she took advantage of a misplayed hit attempt by Watling to make a nifty takeout for three.

After getting a deuce in a sixth end where she could have scored five, Watling extended her lead to 8-4 in the seventh when she stole another two points when Jones’ takeout attempt wrecked on a guard.

Jones would draw for a single point in the eighth and stole a point in the ninth end, but was unable to complete the comeback.

“We had a lot of opportunities but we weren’t able to capitalize on them,” Jones said.

“I know I personally didn’t play that great but my teammates played really well and I have nothing but great things to say about them.”

Despite the disappointing loss to end the week, Jones is excited for the future of the rink, which includes third Abby Ackland, second Robyn Njegovan and lead Sara Oliver.

“We made the change in our lineup (with Jones throwing fourth stones and Ackland calling the game) late in the season and now we have more of a footing under ourselves from this event,” Jones said.

“To finish third at the provincials in our first time here is something that we can be really proud of.”

Darcy Robertson (5-3), Tracy Fleury (5-3) and McDonald (4-4) all missed out on the playoffs.

It was a tough week for Fleury’s East St. Paul rink, which entered the competition as the number one seed and were coming off of a runner-up showing to Jennifer Jones at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Saskatoon last month.

“We weren’t at our sharpest this week and it was just a miss here or there that cost us,” Fleury said.

“In the games that we lost, the other teams played great. There was some very tough competition this week.”

The Fleury rink, which features Selena Njegovan at third, Liz Fyfe at seconnd and Kristin MacCuish at lead, is likely to earn a second chance at making the Scotties.

They are expected to earn a spot in the wildcard play-in game on Jan. 28 because they have a massive lead over the next closest teams in the Canadian Trials Ranking System standings.

“We’ve played in that game before (in 2020 against Jones in Moose Jaw) and we’re certainly grateful to have a second opportunity,” Fleury said.

“We’re going to enjoy some rest over the holidays and try to come back at our best to be Team Wild Card in Thunder Bay.”

In addition to Zacharias, Manitoba will also be represented by Kerri Einarson’s rink from Gimli at the Scotties.

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Brianne Meilleur will once again serve as Team Canada as they look to win a third straight national title.

 — The Brandon Sun

 — staff