By Sarah Tone, Communications Coordinator
Team Wahl’s road to the Canada Games was a winding one. Lead Gill Hildebrand (17), second Anna Marie Ginters (17), third Piper Stoesz (16), and skip Dayna Wahl (17) made their way through trials, bonspiels, and nationals. Their positive outlook shined all the way through to PEI.
“We like to play a simple game but we have two main things we remember before every game. We are here to have fun; we made it this far already and we couldn’t be prouder of ourselves. And secondly, it’s important not to overthink in the hack, and so we remind ourselves to trust our gut. Our goals are never outcome-based, and we do our best to focus on playing the best that we can,” says Team Manitoba ’s female skip Dayna Wahl (17, Altona)
The Altona Curling Club foursome has been curling together for five seasons, and won the Canada Games Trials in Winnipeg in late October, to compete here in PEI.
“The trials were a rollercoaster for us. We snuck into playoffs after finishing with a 3-4 record. We had the best LSD scores which got us into the game against the undefeated team, and we came out on top. In the gold medal game, we were chasing the whole game but after a perfectly played last end, we stole for the win. It was an unexpected win but totally deserved.”
Every bonspiel after the trials was in preparation for the 2023 Canada Winter Games. The community of Altona boasts and brags about their support for this team, and helped them host the U18 Provincials in their hometown.
“We carried our success at the trials into provincials and got our home club another banner.”
Then, it was off to the U18 Nationals in Timmins, where they knew the competition would be tough, that they could learn from their experience there, and that they’d see many of the teams they’d play in PEI.
“We had never competed at that level of curling and everything about the experience was new to us. Playing at Nationals was a great way to prepare us for the excellent curling that we would see at the Canada Winter Games. We knew that we had to be playing our best, but we really wanted to have fun.”
Most come into the Games hoping for a medal, and though that’s not the way things turned out for this team, when they reflect on their experience, that positive outlook is still shining.
“We had great success in our games and it was a huge improvement from U-18 Nationals. I’m very happy with everyone’s shot-making ability this week. We played our hardest and fought until the very last rock. The Canada Games are something that very few people get to experience and we are so honoured to have gotten to represent Manitoba twice this year.”
