Our Manitoba champions have returned home after competing in the inaugural Canadian U18 Curling Championships in Moncton.

“It was everything and more,” said Mackenzie Zacharias who along with third Morgan Reimer, second Emily Zacharias and lead Paige Beaudry sported a 4-4 record in New Brunswick. “It was incredible just getting there, seeing the ice and the arena ice. The whole venue was incredible. We couldn't believe that we were playing there for the whole week.”

“It took a little bit to sink in, especially the fans,” added Zacharias. “Some of the fans were cheering like crazy - like the Quebec people and B.C. and Northern Ontario. They were all so loud and it took a little bit to get used to but after awhile it was a really great experience.”

The Altona Curling Club foursome had a 3-2 round robin record in Pool “A” then went 1-2 in the championship pool and just missed out on qualifying for the semifinals.

“We played pretty good,” Zacharias said. “We got off to a good start on the first day and then hit a bit of a bump. But we made the championship pool which was the goal. We needed to win our last game to get second place and a spot in the playoffs. We got close but didn't quite pull it off but that's okay. Sixth in the country is still pretty good.”

Brett Walter, Jordan Peters, Zachary Wasylik and Liam Tod won their opener but then lost three in a row and missed out on qualifying for the championship pool.

“The teams were really good,” said Walter who won gold in Mixed Doubles on Saturday with Rachel O'Connor of Prince Edward Island. “We didn't play our best at the start of the week which hurt our record early and caused us to miss the playoffs. We played our game and came back with some wins later on.”

Walter, Peters, Waylik and Tod had a 3-5 record at the nationals.

The Morris Curling Club foursome went 2-3 in Pool “A” and then won two of three games in the seeding pool.

“The week really flew by fast,” said Walter. “We had a really good time.”