Both the Tyler Smith junior men’s rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club, and the Lauren Lenentine junior women’s team from the Cornwall Curling Club continued their winning ways this afternoon, going undefeated and sweeping all three sections of the Modified Triple Knockout draw to win the Pepsi Provincial Junior Curling Championships, without having to play the two game championship round that was scheduled for Friday.

The Smith rink, which includes third Christopher Gallant, second stone Noah O’Connor, and lead Brooks Roche, with coaches Peter Gallant and Kevin Smith, won their first section final on Wednesday morning, 10-4 over Cornwall’s Devin Schut rink, their second on Wednesday evening, also against the Schut team, by a 7-3 score, and their third this afternoon, with a 6-0 shutout over the Dylan Lowery squad from Montague and Summerside. The Schut team, which includes third stone Owen Collier, second Tyler Garnhum, and lead Alec Huestis, with coach David Parker are awarded the runner-up position, as they competed in the first two of the three section finals. Lowery stole a deuce in the extra end to get by Schut in the “C” semi-final this morning and advance to “C” final. The rules state that if a team that sweeps all three knockout sections, a championship round is not required, so Smith takes the title.

Junior Men’s winners (L-R): Tyler Smith, Christopher Gallant, Noah O’Connor, Brooks Roche, coach Peter Gallant

Junior Men’s runners-up (L-R): Devin Schut, Owen Collier, Tyler Garnhum, Alec Huestis, coach David Parker

Team Lenentine, with third stone Kristie Rogers, second Breanne Burgoyne, and lead Rachel O’Connor, with coach Pat Quilty, beat the Kaleigh Mackay team from Charlottetown and Montague 9-4 in the “A” final, 9-5 in the B, and 9-5 as well in the “C” event, eliminating the need for a championship round. Other members of the runner-up Mackay foursome are third Danielle Collings, second Alyssa Wright, and lead stone Kaleigh Peters, with coach Tammy Dewar. 

Mackay stole the last end to win the “C” event semi-final this morning, 8-7 over the young Lauren Ferguson rink from Cornwall, who finished with an impressive 3-3 record in their first Pepsi Juniors.

Junior Women’s winners (L-R): Lauren Lenentine, Kristie Rogers, Breanne Burgoyne, Rachel O’Connor, coach Pat Quilty

Junior Women’s runners-up (L-R): Kaleigh Mackay, Danielle Collings, Alyssa Wright, Kaleigh Peters, coach Tammy Dewar

This year’s winners, teams Smith and Lenentine, advance to the 2017 Canadian Junior (Under 21) Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships,  Jan. 21-29 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt (a suburb of Victoria) BC, using the facility’s hockey arena and six-sheet curling rink to decide which teams will represent Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Ten teams – 5 junior men’s and 5 junior women’s took part in this year’s PEI championship, for curlers under age 21.

Linescores from the provincial event are available at PEICurling.com.

The Tyler Smith junior men’s rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the Lauren Lenentine junior women’s foursome from the Cornwall Curling Club have both won the first two of three sections of the Modified Triple Knockout draw, and now have a big advantage at the Pepsi Provincial Junior Curling Championships at the Montague Curling Club. If one or both of these teams should also win the third section final, at 3:30 pm on Thursday, they will win their respective junior men’s or women’s championship without the Friday championship round. If they don’t win the third section final, they will have a “double life” in the two game championship round on Friday, winning the title if they take either game, while their opponent, the winner of the third section, would have to win both.

Photo (L-R): Christopher Gallant, Tyler Smith, Noah O’Connor

The Smith rink, which includes third Christopher Gallant, second stone Noah O’Connor, and lead Brooks Roche, with coaches Peter Gallant and Kevin Smith, won their first section final on Wednesday morning, 10-4 over Cornwall’s Devin Schut rink, and their second on Wednesday evening, also against the Schut team, by a 7-3 score. 

Photo (L-R): Breanne Burgoyne, Kristie Rogers, Lauren Lenentine

Team Lenentine, with third stone Kristie Rogers, second Breanne Burgoyne, and lead Rachel O’Connor, with coach Pat Quilty, beat the Kaleigh Mackay team from Charlottetown and Montague 9-4 in the “A” final, and 9-5 in the B.

The sudden-death “C” event wraps up on Thursday, with the Devin Schut squad taking on Dylan Lowery and his Montague/Silver Fox rink at 11 in the junior men’s section, with the winner facing Smith in the “C” final at 3:30. If Smith wins that game, he takes the championship. Lowery advanced to the “C” semi-final with an 11-4 win over Leslie Noye and his combined Western/Silver Fox/Cornwall team Wednesday evening. Noye doubled the young Mitchell Schut foursome from Cornwall 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon to advance to the game against Lowery.

On the women’s side, it’s the young Lauren Ferguson rink from Cornwall taking on the Kaleigh Mackay foursome from Charlottetown and Montague Thursday at 11, with the winner meeting Lenentine in the “C” final at 3:30. Lenentine will win the championship if she takes that game. Ferguson came up on the winning side of two very close games on Wednesday, eliminating Cornwall clubmate Meghan Ching with a 6-5 score in the afternoon draw, stealing the last end when Ching’s final stone wrecked on a rock at the top of the house, and then went on to edge out another young Cornwall team, skipped by Alexis Burris, by an 8-7 score in the evening draw.

If either Lenentine or Gallant lose the “C” final, there will be a two-game championship round on Friday at 11 am and, if needed, 3 pm, with the “C” final winner playing off against either Lenentine or Gallant, and having to win both games to take the title, while Lenentine or Gallant would take their respective title if they won either game.

This year’s winners advance to the 2017 Canadian Junior (Under 21) Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships,  Jan. 21-29 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt (a suburb of Victoria) BC, using the facility’s hockey arena and six-sheet curling rink to decide which teams will represent Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Ten teams – 5 junior men’s and 5 junior women’s took part in this year’s PEI championship, for curlers under age 21.

Live end-by-end results from the provincial championship are available at PEICurling.com.

Here are team photos from the Pepsi Juniors. 

Team Burris

Team Ching

Team Devin Schut

Team Ferguson

Team Lenentine

Team Lowery

Team Mackay

Team Mitchell Schut

Team Noye

Team Smith

Here is a gallery of photos from the opening ceremonies at the Pepsi Junior Curling Championships.

Click on a photo to enlarge, and use arrows to go ahead and back.

Two draws and the opening ceremonies took place today at the Pepsi Provincial Junior Curling Championships at the Montague Curling Club, and the junior men’s and women’s finalists for the first of three modified triple-knockout sections have been determined from the field of 5 junior men’s and 5 junior women’s teams. The “A” finals go at 9:30 am on Wednesday, with the Tyler Smith rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex playing the Devin Schut team from Cornwall and Montague in the men’s section final, and the Kaleigh Mackay rink from Charlottetown and Montague playing the Lauren Lenentine foursome from Cornwall in the women’s “A” final.

Smith advanced with an 8-2 win over Leslie Noye, and his combined Western, Silver Fox and Cornwall team, while Schut doubled Dylan Lowery and his Montague and Silver Fox team 6-3. Mackay doubled Cornwall’s Lauren Ferguson team 12-6, while Lenentine beat Cornwall clubmate Meghan Ching 7-4 to advance. 

With the “modified” triple knockout format, teams that win the A or B sections drop down to compete in the next sections, with the section winners advancing to a two-game championship round on Friday. If a team wins all three sections, they take the championship immediately. If a team wins two sections, they have a “double life” in the two game championship round on Thursday, and win the title if they take either game, while their opponent, the other section winner, would have to win both.

The “B” finals go Wednesday at 6:30 pm, with the C finals taking place Thursday at 3:30 pm.

Live end-by-end results will be available at: peicurling.com/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2185 and on the main page of PEICurling.com.

Admission to watch the games: $3.00 per draw, or buy a Full Event Pass for $20.

The opening ceremonies took place between today’s two draws, with the teams marching in to bagpipe music, and Master of Ceremonies – Montague Club president Scott Annear introducing a number of guests, including representatives from the Town, Curl PEI, and area Member of Parliament Lawrence MacAulay.

This year’s winners advance to the 2017 Canadian Junior (Under 21) Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships,  Jan. 21-29 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt (a suburb of Victoria) BC, using the facility’s hockey arena and six-sheet curling rink to decide which teams will represent Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

This morning’s 11 am opening draw of the Pepsi Provincial Juniors Curling Championships is going ahead as scheduled. Teams are asked to drive carefully and give themselves plenty of time to get to the Montague Curling Club.