Terrick sisters win provincial junior title

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This article was published 23/01/2023 (1202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE – The fact that Zoey Terrick had won a provincial women’s junior title with her sisters Jaycee and Tessa was something she was still coming to grips with on Saturday evening at the Portage Curling Club.

“I don’t think it’s going to hit me until a couple of days before we go to nationals and we get all of our team Manitoba gear,” Terrick said.

The McCreary product skipped her team from the Heather Curling Club in Winnipeg, which also includes Jensen Letham at second, to the provincial crown following a 9-8 extra-end triumph over Grace Beaudry’s St. Vital squad.

The two teams will head to the 2023 Canadian junior curling championships, which run from March 25 to April 2 in Rouyn-Noranda, Que.

Jordon McDonald of the Deer Lodge successfully defended the men’s title with an 8-7 win over Virden’s Jace Freeman. They will also head to Rouyn-Noranda.

This season marked the first time that the Terrick sisters had played together competitively. Zoey and Jaycee are both students at the University of Manitoba, while lead Tessa is in her Grade 12 year back home in McCreary.

“It’s a great feeling to win the yellow jacket, but to do it with my sisters in my last year of junior means so much more,” said Jaycee Terrick, who throws fourth stones while Zoey calls the game and throws third stones.

Terrick won the ‘A’ event final over top-seed Katy Lukowich of the Granite on Thursday, but they lost an 8-6 affair to Beaudry in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game Friday night.

They rebounded Saturday morning with a 7-3 triumph over Cheyenne Ehnes from the Pembina to earn a rematch with Beaudry.

“We knew that we had to work hard once we got the playoffs if we wanted to reach our goal,” Zoey Terrick said. “The competition wasn’t going to be easy and we needed to make sure that we stayed positive no matter what the situation was.”

That approach proved to be key in the final as Beaudry jumped out to a 5-1 advantage after three ends.

The Terrick team clawed their way back and eventually took an 8-7 lead in the ninth after scoring a three-ender.

Emily Ogg, who throws fourth stones for Beaudry, made a takeout in the tenth to force an extra, where Jaycee Terrick had an open draw to the eight-foot to earn the title.

“We had communicated so well all week and we always seem to know what the ice was doing, which probably helped us out the most in the final,” Jaycee said.

“When we played Grace on Friday, we had chances to get two or three points a few times, but we just couldn’t find the finish when we needed it. It was the opposite in the final and that’s how we got back into the game.”

At the same time as the women’s final was wrapping up, McDonald clinched his second straight junior title by making a draw to the eight-foot in the 10th end.

Despite a tough loss in the final, Freeman and his teammates Thomas McGillivray, Ryan Ostrowsky and Aaron Macdonell were also assured of a spot at the Canadian juniors after beating Ronan Peterson’s Heather quartet in a 7-2 semifinal contest Saturday morning.

The matchup with McDonald marked the third provincial final Freeman competed in this year.

His under-18 team won the Canada Winter Games qualifier in October and captured the provincial U18 title on New Year’s Eve.

“The goal coming into the season was just make it to one national event, but to be able to get to go to three events is pretty surreal,” Freeman said.

“We had a real tough loss to Jordon in the 1 vs. 1 game on Friday, but we bounced back really well in the semifinal and we played our hearts out in the final. To make it this far and take Jordon to the last rock is huge for our team.”

The provincial win capped off what has been a dominant campaign for the McDonald team, which features Reece Hamm at third, Elias Huminicki at second and Cameron Olafson at lead.

Their only loss in junior play came to American Ethan Sampson in the semifinal of the Sun Life Junior Challenge at the Brandon Curling Club.

“I think a lot of our success comes from experience,” said McDonald, who finished fourth at last year’s Canadian juniors in Stratford, Ont. “After last season, we had a better idea of how to prepare ourselves for each event.

“To have such a strong season and combine that with a provincial title is a pretty amazing feeling.”

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