Mackenzie Zacharias and her rink from Altona will represent Manitoba at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts after winning the provincial championship on Sunday in Carberry . 

Zacharias defeated Winnipeg's Kristy Watling 7-5 in the final, scoring a deuce in the 10th and final end. 

The 22-year-old skip and her team of third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine qualified directly for the final after a first-place finish (6-2) in the round robin, including a 9-6 win over Team Tracy Fleury. Team Fleury were a win away from representing Canada at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, but lost to Team Jennifer Jones in the Tim Hortons Curling Trials final last month. 

Watling and Kaitlyn Jones squared off in the lone semi-final as Fleury did not qualify for the playoff round. 

This will be the second Scotties appearance for Zacharias and company after posting a 3-5 record last year inside the Calgary bubble as one of three wild-card rinks. The foursome won the 2020 World Junior Curling Championship in Russia. 

The 2022 Tournament of Hearts runs from Jan. 28- Feb. 6 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. 

 

One Step Closer

Ottawa's Team Rachel Homan lost their opening game to Susan Froud at the last-chance Ontario Scotties qualifier, but proceeded to reel off four straight wins to qualify for the provincial championship next month. 

Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Sarah Wilkes and lead Joan Courtney defeated Mackenzie Kiemele, Emma Wallingford, Heather Heggestad and Katelyn Wasylkiw consecutively to grab the last spot at the Ontario Scotties, scheduled to run in Thornhill from Jan. 5-9. 

Team Homan finished with a 2-6 record at the Canadian Curling Trials last month. 

 

Beijing Bound

The final teams for the 2022 Winter Olympics were determined this weekend at the last-chance qualifier in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. 

On the men's side, Norway's Steffen Walstad, Italy's Joel Retornaz and Mikkel Krause of Denmark grabbed the last three spots while Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa, South Korea's EunJung Kim and Eve Muirhead of Great Britain did the same on the women's side.