Team Hayward reaches playoffs at Nationals

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Carman’s Shaela Hayward and her star-studded squad of Keira Krahn, India Young, and Rylie Cox have wrapped up their fantastic and very busy curling season after a playoff appearance at last week’s U21 Canadian Junior National Curling Championships in Fort McMurray, Alberta.  

Team Hayward, which had previously captured the U18 and U21 Provincial Championships, the U18 Canadian National Championship and back-to-back MHSAA curling banners (2021-22 and 2022-23), put up an excellent showing in Fort McMurray.

Team Hayward earned a 5-3 record in the round-robin to advance to the playoffs at the U21 Nationals. Sadly, their run ended in the quarterfinals after a 9-3 loss to Team Alberta (Claire Booth).

Hayward also gave eventual champion Allyson MacNutt of Nova Scotia their toughest victory of the event. MacNutt had to draw the button in an extra end to defeat Hayward by an 8-7 score.

“It was an honour to wear the buffalo on our backs at our first Canadian Junior, and we are very proud of our performance,” said Hayward.

“Our first junior national was amazing,” added  Young. “We saw a lot of the same teams that were at U18s, with the addition of a few strong U20 teams. So it was great to see familiar faces again. It was for sure a goal for us to make playoffs and achieving that was amazing. We had a few tough games at the beginning of the week, but we got right back into the rhythm and clinched that playoff spot.”

With Young accepting a golf scholarship in the United States this fall, Team Hayward will be making some changes for next season, which means that this national was the last hurrah for the current lineup.

“This season has been a dream come true,” said Young. “There’s no better way that we could have ended Team Hayward. We are so proud of what we have accomplished, and we are so thankful for all of the support.”

At the U21 Nationals, Zoey Terrick also represented the province as Team Manitoba 2 in the girls’ event and missed the playoffs with a 2-6 record.

On the boys’ side, Team Manitoba’s Jordon McDonald (featuring Winnipeg Beach’s Elias Huminicki at second) was considered a favourite in the event as they went 7-1 in the round-robin. Unfortunately, they fell in the quarterfinals to fellow Manitoba rink Jace Freeman of Virden. Freeman lost in the semifinals but captured the bronze medal.  

Ty Dilello
Ty Dilello
Reporter / Photographer

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