Beausejour’s Selena Kaatz won a silver medal at the Canadian junior
curling championships last weekend
in Ontario and
was named a first team all-star.
Silver lining for Kaatz
Beausejour curler named all-star, team finishes second at nationals
By Mark T. Buss
For Selena Kaatz, the 2012 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships is memorable for many reasons.
The Beausejour curler and her St. Vital teammates finished first overall after round robin play in Napanee, Ont. Feb. 4 to 12, they earned a berth into the gold medal final, and three of four members of the team – including Kaatz – were named first team all-stars.
Unfortunately, the Manitoba rink didn’t earn the top prize as they dropped a 12-6 decision to Alberta’s Jocelyn Peterman, leaving Kaatz and company with a silver medal.
“We are really happy about what we accomplished in being second best in Canada,” Kaatz said. “We played well all week long. It’s just unfortunate we had a bad game in the final.”
Prior to the championship game Feb. 11, Kaatz (who plays third but throws skip stones), skip Shannon Birchard, second Kristin MacCuish and lead Moriah Mondor had to come from behind to defeat Yukon’s Sarah Koltun 8-7 Friday afternoon.
The win pushed Manitoba to a 10-2 record and into a first-place tie with Alberta. The Keystone Province curlers however received the bye to the championship game thanks to a 9-5 win over Alberta earlier in head-to-head competition.
“We all had an amazing week,” Kaatz said. “Playing at the nationals is on a whole new level. The arena ice was fantastic and it was a wonderful experience.”
Kaatz said playing on arena ice – where curling sheets are temporarily placed over what is normally a hockey ice surface – did factor into the final game Saturday. Manitoba gave up a four ender in the fourth end and a steal of five in the fifth for a 9-1 Alberta lead at the midpoint.
Alberta appeared to be more comfortable with the ice having to play a semi-final game earlier in the day, an exciting 8-7 victory over Kesa Van Osch of BC.
“The ice had changed quite a bit from the round robin portion and we just couldn’t figure it out,” Kaatz said. “We didn’t come out sharp and Alberta had a great game.”
Manitoba scored three in the eighth to eventually cut the deficit to 10-6, but Peterman iced the match with two in the ninth in what was the final end.
The Petermen foursome of Brittany Tran, Rebecca Konschuh and Kristine Anderson will compete for the world title March 3 to 11 in Sweden.
“The Alberta team will represent Canada very well,” Kaatz said.
The night before the final, Kaatz, MacCuish and Mondor were selected first team all-stars for their respective positions throwing 76, 81 and 83 per cent respectively.
Third Kalia Van Osch of BC was the only non-Manitoban to earn top honours throwing 80 per cent.
Birchard was named second team all-star throwing 76 per cent.
Kaatz, who is in her second year of studying Kinesiology at the University of Manitoba, has one more year of junior curling eligibility and hopes to make a return to the nationals next winter.
The Birchard rink – coached by Beausejour’s Lance Wadelius – defeated Alyssa Vandepoele of Winnipeg 8-3 to claim the 2012 provincial crown in Minnedosa last month.
|
   
|
