The 2023 Provincial U18 Curling Championships are being held this week at the Altona Curling Club and a local team skipped by Colton Olafson is hoping to move on to the playoff rounds this weekend. 

With a 3-2 record, the team is in the mix and a win in their final round-robin game today at 4 p.m. would most likely be enough to ensure they advance. In that game they will meet up with Luke Robins (1-3) of West St. Paul.

Team Olafson won both of their games yesterday, 11-2 over Team Poklar and a huge 7-6 win over the favored Team Freeman in extra ends. Freeman is 3-1 at the event and that game is their only loss.

On the women's side, Dayna Wahl of Altona leads Pool B with a 3-0 record and will meet Shaela Hayward of Carman on the 12:30 p.m. draw in the final round robin game for both teams. Hayward has a 2-1 record. Shayna Benson of Dauphin completed the round robin at 3-1. Grace Beaudry of St. Vital leads Pool A with a 3-0 record. Karys Buchalter of West St. Paul is 3-1 and Julia Van Ryssel of Springfield is 2-1. 

The seven men's teams competing are skipped by Olafson, Nash Sugden of Morden; Zach Norris of Morris;  Jace Freeman of Virden; Ronan Peterson of the Heather; Luke Robins of West St. Paul and Nathan Poklar of East St. Paul. 

The 10 women's teams are skipped by Dayna Wahl of Altona; Shaela Hayward of Carman; Shayna Benson of Dauphin; Bethany Allen of the Granite; Grace Beaudry of St. Vital; Karys Buchalter of West St. Paul; Meghan Lagadi of Pembina; Liv Leadbeater of Swan River; Rylie Buchalter of the Heather and Julia Van Ryssel of Springfield.

The men's playoffs will take place Saturday. 

The top team after the completion of the round-robin will get a bye to the final while the second-place team will play the third-place team in the semifinal.

The women's playoffs begin Friday night. 

The 10 teams are divided into two pools and will use the Page Playoff format.

The winners and finalists on New Year's Eve will qualify for the 2023 Canadian U18 Championships February 6th-11th in Timmins, Ontario.


Provincial U18 Men's draw & results


Provincial U18 Women's draw & results

Olafson