An extra end win to end the week at the Canadian Juniors gave Jace Freeman and his Virden team the bronze medal as Manitoba teams continue to fall short of the gold medals last accomplished by Manitobans Mackenzie Zacharias and Jacques Gauthier in 2020.

Three of four Manitoba teams reached the playoffs at the 2024 Canadian Juniors. Shaela Hayward, attempting to win a second championship to match the U-18 title won earlier, dropped out in the first round of playoffs. Jordon McDonald was beaten by Freeman – also in the first round of the playoffs.

In pool play, McDonald finished 7-1, in second place. while Freeman finished 6-2 in third place in the other pool. That put the two teams into the 2-3 crossover game which Freeman won 6-5.

In the semi-final, Team Freeman lost 7-5 to eventual; champion Kenan Wipf (Alberta) who they had beaten 8-3 in round-robin play. In an extra end, the Manitobans beat Dylan Derksen (Saskatchewan) 7-5.

In the Junior Women’s, Team Hayward’s 5-3 round-robin record earned them third place in the pool. They lost the 2-3 crossover 9-3 to former Manitoban Grace Beaudry, who skipped and threw second stones for the team shown as Alberta’s Claire Booth entry on the Curling Canada scores website. Tessa Terrick’s second Manitoba team finished with a 2-6 record.

Nova Scotia’s Allyson MacNutt team won the Junior women’s gold medal undefeated.