Recently Jace Freeman the son of Roxanne and Graham Freeman guided his rink to a second-place finish at the Telus Manitoba Junior Men’s Curling Championship. That placing earned the curling squad a spot in the Canadian Junior Championships, which will be held March 25th-April 2nd in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. With his U18 rink, Freeman had previously captured berths for the Canadian U18 Curling Championships in Timmins, Feb. 5-11, and the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island, Feb. 18-March 5.
“I’m most looking forward to the atmosphere and the great competition,” Freeman said. “We’ve played the same teams in Manitoba all season so it’s very exciting to play different strong teams.”
Last weekend in Portage, Team Freeman posted a 4-0 record in pool play. It fell 9-1 to Team McDonald in a matchup of the pool winners. That meant Team Freeman needed to beat Team Peterson, which it did 7-2, to advance to the finals and earn a spot in the national championship. In the provincial final, Team McDonald prevailed 8-7.
“I was most pleased with how we bounced back after losing the one versus one game,” Freeman said. “That was a very tough loss, but we refocused and played well in the semifinal to secure our spot in nationals.”
The skip was certainly familiar with his competition in the finals. McDonald’s second, Elias Huminicki, curls third for Freeman’s U18 rink. Last year Freeman curled third for Team McDonald at the U18 nationals.
Freeman’s junior team includes third Thomas McGillivray, second Ryan Ostrowsky, lead Aaron Macdonell and alternate Alex Fontaine. The rink is coached by Jace’s father, Graham Freeman. The junior rink has also qualified for the senior men’s provincial Viterra Championship. With Freeman competing at the U18 nationals, his older brother Brooks will fill in for him.
