TEAM WAHL ADVANCES TO ASHAM U-18 WOMEN`S CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

UPDATE: Friday 10:30PM) Altona’s Dayna Wahl team, already winners of Manitoba’s Canada Games berth, have advanced to the final of the Asham U-18 Championship being played in their hometown club.  By reaching the final, they have also won the first of two Manitoba  invitations to the U-18 nationals in Timmons, ON. In February.

Team Wahl defeated previously unbeaten Grace Beaudry (St. Vital) in the 1 vs 1 playoff game, scoring three on the seventh end and winning with a point on an extra end.

In the 2vs 2 playoff game, Shaela Hayward’s Carman team defeated Karys Buchalter (West St. Paul) to advance to the Saturday morning semifinal against Beaudry.

The winner of the semi-final, by advancing to the final game, will win the second of two Manitoba entry in the national championship.

If you’re inclined to ask – so why play the final game? – the answer is quite simple. The Manitoba Championship is on the line. The champions go to Timmins as Team Manitoba while the loser will be identified as a Wild Card entry from Manitoba. For Team Wahl, there is also the quest to follow in the footsteps of another local team, the Mackenzie Zacharias team which won this same championship as a stepping stone in the ascent to the pinnacle of curling when they won the World Juniors a few short years later.

(Friday 4:30PM) PLAYOFFS SET IN ASHAM U-18 WOMEN`S CHAMPIONSHIP …….One unbeaten team and three with 3W-1L records will advance to the playoff round of the Asham CurlManitoba U-18 Women`s Championship in Altona.

One team with a 3W-1L record misses the playoffs based on the event`s accumulated pre-game draw-to-the-button scores, the now standard tie-breaker formula.

With a 4W-0L record, Grace Beaudry (St. Vital) has the only unbeaten team. In their final round robin game, the St. Vital team needed an extra end to beat Julia Van Ryssel (Springfield) who had scored three coming home to tie.

Beaudry is followed in second place by Karys Buchalter (West St. Paul) with a 3W-1L record. Van Ryssel finshes with a 2W-2L record in third place in the group.

The other pool ended in a three way tie for first. The three teams with 3W-1L records were Dauphin`s Team Benson, (skipped by Cloe Halushak) who had a last round bye, Shaela Haywrd (Carman) and Dayna Wahl (Altona).

A last round win by Hayward over Wahl created the logjam. Wahl earns first place in the pool  with Hayward second and Benson third based on the tie-breaker process. 

In their final games of the event. Bethany Allan (Granite), with a win over Liv Leadbeater (Swan River), and Rylie Buchalter (Heather), with a win over Meghan Lagadi (Pembina) earned their first victories.

The four team playoff in a Page format, has Beaudry against Wahl in the 1 vs 1 game. The winner advances to the final and earns the first invitation to the nationals in Timmins, ON. In the Page 2 vs 2 game, Hayward will play Karys Buchalter (West St. Paul) who had the last game bye and also finished at 3W-1L.

The first playoff round goes at 7:30pm Friday.

WAHL, BEAUDRY TEAMS LEAD WITH TWO WINS EACH ON DAY OF U-18 WOMEN’S

After two games on the first day of play in the Asham CurlManitoba U-18 Women’s Championship in Altona, the top two seeds have taken their expected place atop the two five-team pools.

Grace Beaudry (St. Vital) and Dayna Wahl (Altona) were the only teams to win their first two games.

Grace Beaudry delivers with sweepers Lauren Evason and Tessa Terrick

Beaudry defeated the teams skipped by Liv Leadbeater (Swan River) and Karys Buchalter (West St. Paul) while Wahl’s wins came over Meghan Lagadi (Pembina) and Dauphin’s Team Benson (skipped by Cloe Haluschak.

Two teams in each pool had first day splits and it should be noted two teams in each pool had first day byes but all four lost their opening games.

In their only game Thursday, Team Beaudry will play one of the 0W-1L teams, Bethany Allan’s Granite team. Team Beaudry also has a bye Thursday, playing their only game against Rylie Buchalter and her Heather team.

While the first day’s results are not a guarantee of final standings they are a strong indicator of the challenge faced by all of the teams in subsequent games as they strive to earn one of the two playoff spots available in each pool.

There is a huge advantage to finishing first in each pool as the Women’s event will play a Page Playoff with the two first place teams meeting  in the first round of playoffs. The winner goes to the final knowing they have already won one of two national invitations available. The loser has a second chance opportunity when they drop to the semifinal.

OPENING GAME WINS FOR U-18 FAVOURITES

Luke Robins looks on as Jace Freeman calls sweeping

Jace Freeman’s Virden team and Dayna Wahl’s Altona team opened play in the Asham CurlManitoba U-18 Championships with wins: Freeman last evening over Luke Robins (West St, Paul) and Wahl this morning over Meghan Lagardi (Pembina).

In the Men’s the Robins team is also highly rated as is Ronan Peterson’s Heather team whose first round loss to Nash Sugden (Morden) would be considered a minor upset.

The third winner on the Men’s first draw were Zach Norris (Morris) over Colton Olafson (Portage).

Dayna Wahl, with sweeper Gillian Hildebrand

On the Women’s first draw, co-favourite Grace Beaudry (St. Vital) was a 6-end winner over Swan River’s Leadbeater team. Shalea Hayward’s Carman, considered to be among the contenders, scored three coming home to tie but lost on an extra end to Dauphin’s  Shayna Benson team (skipped by Chloe Haluschak).

Karys Buchalter’s West St. Paul team won the fourth opening round game (over Soringfield’s Julia Van Ryssel team)

ALTONA HOST CURLMANITOBA U-18 CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGINNING TONIGHT

CurlManitoba’s U-18 Championships begin tonight in Altona – with 7 young men’s teams and 10 young women’s teams participating. The men play a 7 team, 6 game round robin while the women are split in two pools of five for a four game round robin.

It will be a first major test for the two teams which won the Canada Games Trials at Heather in November. Dayna Wahl’s Altona team and Jace Freeman’s Virden team will be out to prove it was no fluke that they earned the Canada Games berth and that they should be one of the two Manitoba teams at the Canadian U-18’s in early February in Timmins, ON as well.

In the Men’s U-18 Championship, Freeman and Elias Huminicki were on last year’s winning McDonald team and their lead, Jack Steski, was on the finalist team a year ago. The combined credentials identify them as the favorite. Rylan Graham, their fourth player, also played in this event a year ago. 

At Heather after winning the Canada Games Trials (front Altona’s Dayna Wahl, Piper Stoesz, Anna Marie Ginters, Gillian Hildebrand, Coach Keith Stoesz AND back Rylan Graham, Jack Steski, Elias Huminicki, Jace Freeman, Coach Graham Freeman)

Huminicki is already the leader in games played at the Manitoba U-18 Men’s Championship – having played 26 games in four previous appearances. He is poised to move ahead of his former skip, Jordon McDonald, into first place on the list of most games won. With 17 previous wins he is tied for second in that stats category, behind only McDonald who won 20 games out of 21 played as he skipped the 2019, 2020, and 2022 champion teams. (The event was cancelled due to covid in 2021).

Cameron Olafson, who was also on the winning McDonald team a year ago, is skipping his own Portage team this year. Two other members of the 2022 finalist Ryan Ostrowsky team are also playing this year. Luke Robins is skipping a West St. Paul team with Logan Strand at lead. They lost the Canada Games Trials semi-final. Finalist Ronan Peterson’s Heather team, the only team in the championship from inside the perimeter highway, is also competing in Altona.

In the Women’s U-18 Championship, Team Wahl (Piper Stoesz, Anna Marie Ginters, Gilian Hildebrand) topped their round robin pool in last year`s championship but lost in the semi-final to Grace Beaudry who went on to lose the final. Beaudry has recruited Cassidy Dundas and Tessa Terrick from last year`s champion team. With Lauren Evason rounding out the squad, the Wahl & Beaudry teams can be considered co-favourites this year. It is notable that Beaudry recently won a 2023 Scotties berth (with a different team).

Altona’s Mackenzie Zacharias teams won three consecutive U-18 titles in 2015-1026-2017. Tessa Terrick and Cassidy Dundas have each won 17 games in previous U-18 appearances, a number well behind the leading 38 games played by Meghan Walter in seven appearances at the event.

The Altona Curling Club hosts the championship action, beginning with an 8PM Men`s draw this evening and continuing to playoffs at 9AM and 1PM on Saturday.

ALTONA, VIRDEN TEAMS WIN CANADA GAMES TRIALS

Manitoba will be represented by a pair of rural based curling teams at the 2023 Canada Games. Altona’s Dayna Wahl team and Virden’s Jace Freeman team will join the larger Team Manitoba at the 2023 Games.

Team Wahl (Piper Stoesz, AnnaMarie Ginters, Gillian Hildebrand and Coach Keith Stoesz) stole two coming home to defeat Shaela Hayward’s Carman team 6-5 in the Trials final today at Heather. Down 4-1 at the midgame break, Team Wahl outscored the Carman foursome 5-1 through the second half.

Skip Dayna Wahl threw her last stone tight past a rock in the top 12 foot to stop full in the eight foot in front of her shot stone in the four foot circle. Hayward needed to bite the button to win or the four foot to tie but was just short on the attempt.

For Freeman (Elias Huminicki, Jack Steski, Rylan Graham, and Coach Graham Freeman) it took a last stone takeout to end a comeback attempt by Heather’s Ronan Peterson who had scored singles on ends 6 & 7 to trail by one coming home. The final score was 7-5.

A four on the fifth end gave Freeman a 6-3 lead but Team Peterson controlled each of the next two ends to trail by one coming home. Peterson’s last stone draw to the foot was a bit deep and overcurled to be mostly open, allowing Freeman to hit with the luxury of having second shot rock if he rolled out.

The Canada Games will be played in Prince Edward Island in February, 2023