The Hapnot Kweens curling squad hit the ice at the Manitoba high school curling championships last weekend, playing a trio of games against tough southern competition.
The Kweens team went to Winnipeg for the tournament from Feb. 8-10, hosted by the College Jeanne-Sauve and the Heather Curling Club, both in St-Boniface.
One of 16 teams from across Manitoba that qualified for provincials, the Kweens entered a four-team pool to play for seeding in a single-knockout tournament - the top two seeds from each pool would advance.
The Kweens drew a difficult group though, facing three much larger schools including the host Jeanne-Sauve Olympiens. Hapnot had a rough time in the pool, losing 13-0 to the Olympiens, 11-3 to the Morden Thunder and 9-3 to Les Roys from Ile-des-Chenes’ College Regional de Gabrielle-Roy, finishing last in the group and not advancing.
Morden and Gabrielle-Roy advanced to the playoff round, with Morden making the semi-final before being eliminated.
The Kweens’ team at provincials consisted of skip Teslynn Beauchamp, lead Brooke Baynton, second Mackenzie McLean and third Niki Keramydas. Three of the four Kweens on the curling team can return next season - Baynton is set to graduate this year and has played her final high school curling game.
Off the ice, members of the Kweens team took in a banquet for participating players, including a speech and face-to-face meeting with Olympic gold medal-winning curler Jill Officer. A six-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion, two-time World Champion and gold medallist at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Officer, who was born and raised in Winnipeg, is considered one of Canadian curling’s greatest-ever seconds. Officer spent most of her playing career alongside skip Jennifer Jones as one of curling’s most successful combos.
The Hapnot Kings curling teams did not qualify for provincials, having lost the zone 11 championship tournament late last month.
