Canada's double world juniors gold 'absolutely phenomenal' for Manitoba curling fans

At a Winnipeg curling club on Friday night, one thing was certain: the future of curling is in good hands.

Fans gathered at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club to watch skip Jacques Gauthier's rink from Winnipeg take home the world junior curling championships men's title with a 7-2 win over Switzerland.

Canada's women's team, led by skip Mackenzie Zacharias of Altona, Man., also brought home gold later that night with a 7-5 victory over South Korea.

Deanne Zilinsky, who was at the curling club Friday for her weekly rec league, said it's an impressive feat that both teams made it to the finals.

"Even having one team there is an amazing accomplishment," she said. "But to have both ... is just something that is completely indescribable."

People who came to the Winnipeg curling club Friday know the space is Gauthier's home rink, said fan Stephen Skrypnyk. And the connection made fans even more proud to watch the broadcast of the men's team taking home the title there.

Gauthier's team scored back-to-back deuces in the sixth and seventh ends to put the game away. The teams shook hands after nine ends.

"It just shows how good the curlers are that come out of this club, because if you look around you'll see all the banners from world champions, men and women," he said. "So it's pretty good to see them continue the tradition."

Inspiring young curlers

In the women's final, Canada opened the scoring with one in the second but fell behind 3-1 following the third. But the two teams were tied 4-4 heading into the seventh end before the Canadians stole two in the ninth for the 7-5 advantage.

South Korean skip Min-Ji Kim came up short with her first-stone draw attempt. With no stones in scoring position, the South Koreans conceded to give Canada the victory.

Zilinsky said she thinks it's the accessibility of the sport that has helped make it so popular in the province — and helped send so many Manitobans to the big time.

"[We have] so many great curlers that start from such a young age and continue through," she said. "This is a sport that you can curl from very young until you are well into your 80s and 90s."

The lifelong Winnipegger said the wins will have a ripple effect for aspiring young curlers across the province.

"I could not be more proud of those kids that have curled their hearts out for the whole time that they've been there," she said. "[It] is an absolutely phenomenal thing for the people of Manitoba."

The championships were held in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk.