Team Shaela Hayward (Keira Krahn, India Young, Rylie Cox) out of the Carman Golf and Curling Club had a fantastic experience last week competing in the 2024 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Morden.
The Hayward rink, the youngest team in the field, as all four members are in Grade 12 at Carman Collegiate, finished the event with a 3-2 record.
“We were super pumped going into the last day as we had a chance to get into the championship pool,” said Team Hayward’s second Young. “Competing in our first Scotties close to home was amazing. Walking out onto the arena for the first time was unbelievable. All of us were blown away. We couldn’t be more pleased with our performance. We entered the week wanting to keep games close and maybe get a win, but instead, we went 3-2 and almost made the playoffs.”
In Team Hayward’s first game of the event, they had the privilege of going up against Kaitlyn Lawes, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and the eventual winner of the Scotties. Lawes took care of business over the young Hayward rink by winning 12-2.
“Playing team Lawes was so cool for all four of us,” said Young. “All week, we were amazed to be playing in the same event as them. It was our first game on arena ice, so we struggled a little, but we took all that excitement and came back firing in the next games.”
Hayward went on to win three of their next four games, including a massive 13-1 win over Beth Peterson, who went on to lose to Lawes in the Scotties final. Hayward’s 3-2 record was nearly good enough to make it to the next playoff round, but they were eliminated due to a tiebreaker as two other teams shared their same 3-2 record.
“We had a tough game against Lawes, but we took what we learned and stuck to what we knew. We had a big win against Team Peterson and ran from there. As a team, we had so much confidence in every shot. It also helped that the crowd was behind us every step of the way. There was always a huge Team Hayward presence in the crowd, and we could hear their cheers every draw.”
It’s a quick turnaround for Team Hayward as they are off to Ottawa this week to compete in the 2024 Canadian U18 National Curling Championships. They will be heading to Ottawa with some newfound confidence after their wonderful performance at the Scotties.
“We are going to take all the things we learned about arena ice and our confidence to Ottawa on Friday. And we are so excited to get started at U18 Nationals.”
Hayward off to Nationals after successful fundraiser
On Jan. 27, Team Shaela Hayward (Keira Krahn, India Young, Rylie Cox) held its send-off fundraiser at the Carman Golf and Curling Club as they embark this week to Ottawa for the 2024 U18 Canadian Curling Championship.
The night included many speeches, dinner, silent auction, a 50/50 and more.
“We had a great turnout with about 130 people at the event with another 100 people buying support tickets,” said Darcy Hayward. “We did well and raised enough to cover the girl’s hotel and their rental vehicle.”
Curling Canada pays for the team’s flights to the Nationals and gives a total $500 to go towards other expenses. CurlManitoba gives a total $500 to match that, but otherwise all expenses for the 10 day trip was the team’s to fundraise, and thankfully Team Hayward was able to hit their fundraising goal.
“We had a great night at our send off party,” said Shaela Hayward. “We are so grateful for all of the overwhelming support we have gotten over the past couple of weeks. It is fantastic to see the support from our community, club, sponsors, friends, and families. Thank you to our parents for organizing the event and to the club for hosting, and to anyone who spoke at the event. We are so appreciative for all of the support. We also want to thank all of the businesses that donated a silent auction prize as there were a lot of awesome prizes.”
