Jace setting the pace at junior curling nationals

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2024 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Who says you need to win the provincial final to be a contender at nationals?

Virden’s Jace Freeman may have lost last month’s Manitoba men’s under-21 junior curling title to Jordon McDonald, but he still has an opportunity to show he’s one of the best young shotmakers in the country.

Manitoba receives two berths for junior nationals — in men’s and women’s — and Freeman has been making the most of his second chance this week in Alberta’s Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo as he was a perfect 5-0 start heading into Wednesday’s late draw.

In a battle of unbeatens earlier in the day, the 19-year-old and his teammates from Winnipeg — third Ryan Ostrowsky, second Nick Senff, and lead Luke Robins — knocked off Alberta No. 1 Kenan Wipf 8-3 to sit alone at the top of Pool B.

“We’re feeling great. Can’t be feeling much better than we are right now,” said Freeman. “Looking at our pool going in, we knew we had a really tough start so to start out 5-0 is just incredible.”

Over in Pool A, McDonald, a 20-year-old playing out of the Assiniboine Club, is feeling just as good as he improved to 5-0 Wednesday morning after defeating Ontario No. 2 Tyler MacTavish 11-3.

Teams are divided into two pools of nine and play an eight-game round-robin schedule, which concludes Saturday morning. The top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs with the No. 1 seeds receiving byes to the semifinals.

The gold medal games take place on Sunday.

Freeman played third for McDonald at the 2022 under-18 nationals where they lost in the quarterfinals.

“We’re hoping to both finish first in our pools and be on opposite sides in the semi which would be nice because I believe they’re the toughest team here to beat,” said Freeman. “That would be unreal (to play McDonald in the final). I don’t think I’d have it any other way. We’re more comfortable playing those guys than any other team, I think. We’re pretty close to being .500 with them this year.”

McDonald defeated Freeman at the last two junior provincials on the final rock and has won seven Manitoba finals in a row between the U21 and U18 ranks.

It’s also the second year in a row both sides have gotten off to strong starts at junior nationals as McDonald went 8-0 in the 2023 round robin before settling for bronze. Freeman went 7-1, with his lone loss coming against his provincial rival, before bowing out in the quarterfinals.

The two skips believe that experience is showing this week.

Saskatchewan No. 2 Dylan Derksen was also 5-0 in Pool A at print deadline.

“I just find our team has been very calm on the ice. I think we’re all very, very comfortable and we just have a lot of confidence,” said McDonald, who plays with third Dallas Burgess, second Elias Huminicki and lead Cameron Olafson.

“We know we can win every game we step on the ice for. And I think later in the event, knowing how to play under pressure, knowing what shots to call under pressure, I think that’s going to hopefully really help us take advantage of some of the teams out here.”

Freeman finished in sixth at the 2023 U18 nationals and fifth at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island.

With Senff and Robins being 18, and Ostrowsky, 20, still having another year of elgibility, the future is bright for Team Freeman no matter how this week ends.

“We know we can amp up our game even more, there’s still quite a few things we can improve on,” said Freeman.

“But I don’t want to look at next year yet, we still got a few big games left here.”

On the women’s side, Carman’s Shaela Hayward — the Canadian under-18 champion — stayed alive Wednesday afternoon with a 5-3 win over Ontario No. 2 Emma Acres (3-1) to move up to 3-2. Manitoba No. 2 Zoey Terrick out of the Heather lost twice Wednesday to fall to 0-4.

The winner of the women’s tournament will represent Canada on the international stage in 2025. The men finished on the bubble of qualifying directly into the world juniors next year. It’s not yet determined whether the Canadian men have qualified for the world juniors or if they will have to compete in the world Junior B championship. Canada’s status will depend on which country hosts the world championship.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31