“Ladies the ice is yours – good luck and good curling.”

It's the biggest stage.

16 teams have their sights on winning the Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts which begins Wednesday morning at the Sun Gro Centre in Beausejour.

Some already have – like Barb Spencer, Cathy Overton-Clapham, Darcy Robertson, Kristy McDonald and Janet Harvey.

Others have come so close – like Kerri Einarson, Joelle Brown and Kim Link.

There are those who are poised to take that next step – like Michelle Montford and Shannon Birchard.

And then there are two teams who competed in the Provincial Junior Curling Championship earlier this month in Rivers and now want to prove their game is good enough in Beausejour – like Christine MacKay and Mackenzie Zacharias.

MacKay, third Gaetanne Gauthier, second Taylor Maida and lead Katrina Thiessen who play out of the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg, recorded a 4-3 round robin record at the Provincial Juniors.

MacKay said it was a thrill to play on arena ice at the Riverdale Community Centre.

“It really got us pumped for this. So excited for the ice. We're pumped for the whole atmosphere and the experience.”

“We want to play well,” added MacKay who turned 20-years-old on the final day of the Provincial Juniors. “And we also want to have fun, learn lots of strategy and shot making but also, if we can come out with a couple of wins, that would be amazing.”

Zacharias, third Morgan Reimer, second Emily Zacharias and lead Jenessa Rutter had a great week in Rivers.

The Altona Curling Club foursome made it all the way to the semifinals before losing out to eventual champion Abby Ackland of Fort Rouge.

Zacharias who is 16-years-old and still has five years of junior eligibility remaining, is looking forward to playing against our province's best.

“The ice feels a lot like juniors which is great but the atmosphere definitely feels a lot more intense with all the women's teams here. It's really exciting.”

As for being the youngest team in the field.

“It's a little bit intimidating,” said Zacharias. “But we're definitely here just to get a good experience and get a good feel for what the Scotties is.”

And the Altona skip doesn't believe age matters that much when it comes to getting the rock from point A to point B.

“I think just as long as you come out here and play some good games, it doesn't matter what your age is.”

Spoken like a Scotties veteran.

Play well Christine & Mackenzie.


Mackenzie Zacharias

Wednesday, January 20th
Draw #1
Shannon Birchard, St. Vital 6 Mackenzie Zacharias, Altona 3
Michelle Montford, Assiniboine Memorial 7 Christine MacKay, Fort Rouge 6 (EE)
Kristy McDonald, Granite 11 Terry Ursel, Neepawa 3
Joelle Brown, Assiniboine Memorial 5 Kim Link, East St. Paul 4

Draw #2
Cathy Overton-Clapham, Fort Rouge 10 Jennifer Rolles, Thompson 4
Lisa Menard, Dauphin 9 Barb Spencer, Assiniboine Memorial 7
Cheryl Reed, Brandon 11 Kerri Einarson, East St. Paul 10
Darcy Robertson, Rossmere 12 Janet Harvey, Granite 3

Draw #3
McDonald 8 MacKay 4
Birchard 7 Link 5
Brown 5 Zacharias 4
Montford 8 Ursel 5

Opening Ceremony – 7:15 p.m.

Draw #4
Einarson 8 Menard 3
Overton-Clapham 9 Harvey 5
Robertson 10 Rolles 4
Spencer 9 Reed 6