Manitoba goes unbeaten to capture Canadian junior women’s curling title

LANGLEY, B.C. — Manitoba third Karlee Burgess captured a record third Canadian women’s junior title on Sunday, helping Mackenzie Zacharias’s team earn the victory.

Zacharias beat Alberta’s Abby Marks 10-3 in the final, capping an 11-0 tournament for Manitoba.

Burgess, 21, was on two national championship teams from Nova Scotia (2016 with Mary Fay and 2018 with Kaitlyn Jones) before moving to Manitoba last summer.

“It’s pretty special. I moved halfway across Canada to play with these girls and coming out with a win here is pretty exciting. I can’t believe it actually,” said Burgess, whose Manitoba rink also includes second Emily Zacharias and lead/vice-skip Lauren Lenentine.

Manitoba’s angle takeout for four in the eighth blew open a tight game, giving Zacharias’ rink an 8-3 lead.

It was Manitoba’s 10th Canadian junior women’s championship, matching Alberta’s total, which is one back of leading Saskatchewan.

It marked Manitoba’s first women’s gold since Kaitlyn Lawes won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009.

“It hasn’t sunk in completely yet. It’ll probably take a couple days,” said Mackenzie Zacharias. “I still can’t believe that my name is going to be on the back of a Canadian jacket. That’s been my dream forever, and I can’t believe it’s really coming true.”

Manitoba’s Jacques Gauthier, Burgess’ boyfriend, faced Newfoundland and Labrador’s Daniel Bruce in the men’s final later Sunday.

The winning teams will represent Canada in the world junior championships, starting Feb. 15 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2020.

The Canadian Press