Zacharias rules Dauphin ice

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This article was published 06/01/2020 (2388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s no question who the best women’s team was at the Manitoba Junior Curling Championships in Dauphin this week.

From the opening day to Sunday’s final, Mackenzie Zacharias and her squad dominated. They finished the 16-team event 9-0, capped off with a 10-4 victory over Serena Gray-Withers in the championship game. Zacharias, who also won last year’s junior provincial crown, outscored the competition 90-36. Zacharias’ team features her sister Emily at second, Lauren Lenentine at lead and Karlee Burgess at third.

“It’s just incredible. We came into this bonspiel and were able to perform every game,” said Zacharias, who hails from Altona and curls out of Elmwood Curling Club.

“We did our best and we were able to come out on top in the end. We’re just super happy and super excited about nationals.”

The Zacharias rink went 6-4 at last year’s nationals in Prince Albert, Sask., to miss the playoffs by one game. The 2020 Canadian Junior Curling Championships goes down in Langley, B.C. from Jan. 18-26. Zacharias hopes to build off of last year’s performance.

“We learned a ton last year and we’re going to be able to take a ton away from that,” Zacharias said.

“We’re gonna go in there hoping to win some gold and we’re going to see what happens. We’re gonna take it one game at a time and we’re gonna do our absolute best. Hopefully, that’s enough, but we’ll see.”

In the junior men’s final, Brett Walter upset an undefeated Jacques Gauthier team 8-7 on Sunday to earn a spot in Langley. Walter took the scenic route to the final after suffering a 7-2 defeat to Gauthier in the Page playoff semifinal. Walter responded with a 9-6 win over Ryan Wiebe in the semifinal to set up a rematch with Gauthier. When the top two teams of the week met when it mattered most, Walter got the job done, thanks in part to a 4-0 lead after four ends. Gauthier scored three in the ninth, but it was too late.

“We played them in the one versus two (semifinal) game and they came out really sharp,” said Walter, a Winnipegger. “We did not capitalize as much as we wanted to in that first game. But we knew if we came out early and gave it a good run in the first couple ends (in the final) like we did, it would put a lot of pressure on them early and it kind of switched the momentum quick which went in our favour this weekend.”

Gauthier had won the past three junior men’s titles as a third for JT Ryan. Walter put an end to Gauthier’s incredible streak to capture his first under-21 championship. Walter, 19, is no stranger to representing Manitoba as he’s a three-time under-18 provincial champion.

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“It feels really good. We lost to that team last year in the one-two game. We play them all the time and they’ve had our number this year. But we came out to play this weekend and we pulled it out when we needed to,” said Walter, who posted an 8-2 record.

‘It’s just incredible. We came into this bonspiel and were able to perform every game’ — Mackenzie Zacharias

Walter, lead Lawson Yates, second Zach Wasylik and third Thomas Dunlop, who are based out of Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club, might be the new team on the block at junior nationals later this month, but they’re confident they can make some noise.

“I think if we just do what we did this week, (we’ll be fine),” said Walter. “We played relaxed, stayed calm, played with patience and if we do the same thing, I think we’ll have a successful time out in B.C.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.