HOG LINE: Terrick stoked to represent Manitoba

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This article was published 19/04/2022 (1426 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Since she started curling, McCreary’s Zoey Terrick has wanted to compete for her home province on a national stage.

The Grade 12 student will get to do that in two weeks.

Terrick, who skips a rink from the Neepawa Curling Club with Cassidy Dundas at third, her sister Tessa Terrick at second, Madison Sagert at lead and her dad Craig Terrick as coach, will represent Manitoba at the Canadian Under-18 Curling Championships in Oakville, Ont. from May 1 to 7.

“This is something I’ve always dreamed about and I’m so happy that I’ll have my family there to experience this with me,” Terrick said.

“It’s started to set in that we’ll be wearing the Manitoba colours over the last few days, but it still feels pretty unreal that we get to play at a national event.”

The Terrick rink captured the provincial women’s U18 title on April 10 at the Heather Curling Club in Winnipeg.

After earning one of the two national spots with a 7-2 victory over Dayna Wahl of Altona in the 1 vs. 1 Page playoff game, the quartet wrapped up a perfect 7-0 week with a 5-3 triumph over Grace Beaudry’s squad from the St. Vital Curling Club.

The championship contest was the toughest test of the tournament for Terrick, as she came back from a 3-1 deficit after four ends.

After blanking the fifth frame, Terrick picked up a point in the sixth, stole another point in the seventh to tie the game up and sealed the victory with a steal of two in the eighth and final end.

“Those first few ends in the final were pretty rough but we just kept fighting back,” Terrick said. “We were able to get some rocks in the right spots in the last couple of ends and took advantage of our opportunities when we needed to.

“We definitely didn’t think that we would win all of our games going into the week, especially with how good the teams were at the provincials. It just happened to work out that way with how well we were playing.”

The rink entered the week with some confidence as they were coming off of a fourth place finish at the U21 provincials, which were held at the Brandon Curling Club in February.

“I think we realized then that we had the potential to do well at the U18’s, especially as we knew a lot of the teams that we would be facing,” Terrick said.

“As it turned out, we probably had our best performances as a team in Winnipeg. We were all making good shots and having a lot of fun together.”

Terrick – who describes her rink as a balanced group – has been playing with her sister Tessa and Dundas for four years, with Sagert joining the lineup this season.

Following a two-year run as the second for Makenna Hadway’s Dauphin rink, Terrick was to have made her debut at skip for the 2020-21 season, but those plans were pushed back as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Terrick feels that she’s made a ton of improvements in how she’s called the game since the campaign began, especially in terms of where she wants to put the rock and allowing her team to have a better chance of scoring points.

“The chemistry we have as a team has also been a huge help for me,” Terrick said. “We know what we need to do to help each other out if we make mistakes out there and we all know how we throw the rock.

“We all make each other better.”

The biggest challenge for the rink during the course of the season is finding time to practice, as the Terrick sisters are based in McCreary, Dundas resides in Onanole and Sagert lives in Minitonas.

That issue is something that they are looking to sort out before they leave for nationals on April 30, with many nearby clubs closing for the season.

According to Terrick, the plan is to get some ice time in Morris before they fly out to Oakville.

“Our main goal is to just go out there and have fun, stay positive and whatever happens, happens,” Terrick said.

“It’s a pretty similar approach to what we had at our provincial playdowns. We know that we can all play the game and we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, as it’s worked for us so far.”

Terrick and her rink are one of four Manitoba squads that will be taking part in the U18 nationals.

Beaudry is in the women’s event, while Jordon McDonald of the Deer Lodge Curling Club and Ryan Ostrowsky of the West St. Paul Curling Club are in the men’s competition.

Virden’s Jace Freeman is the third for McDonald, who finished in third place at the 2019 tournament in Sherwood Park, Alta.