October 22, 2008 ~ Source: Canadian Curling Association
SOREL-TRACY, QUÉBEC, October 22, 2008…The 2010 M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior men’s and women’s curling championships will be held in Sorel-Tracy, Québec, it was announced today by the Canadian Curling Association (CCA).
Scheduled for January 16-24, 2010 at Le Colisée Cardin de Sorel-Tracy and the Club de curling Aurèle Racine, the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors brings together 13 men’s and 13 women’s teams representing the 10 provinces plus separate entries from Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories and Yukon in a round robin competition format. The playoffs involve three teams, with the first place teams advancing to their respective finals, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals.
“This is the first time that the CCA and M&M Meat Shops have partnered to host the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in the province of Québec,” said Greg Stremlaw, CEO of the CCA. “We were extremely encouraged by the bid from Sorel-Tracy and the strong endorsement we received from Curling Québec. Having Guy Hemmings as the event chair is icing on the cake, which really helps to set this event up for success.”
TSN, the official broadcaster for the CCA’s Season of Champions, will televise the women’s final on Saturday, January 23 and the men’s final on Sunday, January 24. The winners of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors will then represent Canada at the 2010 world juniors, at a site and date to be announced by the World Curling Federation.
“The M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors features the very best Canadian junior curlers and I am extremely pleased and very excited that this event will be taking place in Sorel-Tracy,” said Elaine DeRyk, President of Curling Québec. “The host committee has staged several outstanding provincial championships over the last few years, and I am confident that this championship will be another success. It gives Curling Québec the opportunity to increase our visibility among a very important section of the population, our young people and their parents. On behalf of Curling Québec, we are very proud to be associated with this event.”
“Hosting a major sporting event will be a great opportunity for our town and region to showcase itself to the rest of the country,” added Marcel Robert, the Mayor of Sorel-Tracy. “It will also give us the chance to expose the visiting athletes and their families to a healthy dose of French Canadian hospitality! We are very grateful to M&M Meat Shops and the Canadian Curling Association for this wonderful opportunity and would like to extend our appreciation and thanks.”
Two-time (1998, 1999) Brier runner-up, Guy Hemmings, the host organizing committee president, said, “The sport of curling is gaining more and more notoriety in Québec over the last few years. To host a major Canadian curling championship like the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Sorel-Tracy will certainly be a major step in the right direction and gives us an outstanding promotional tool in the years to come.”
Québec has hosted four previous Canadian junior men’s (1950, 1960, 1970, 1993) and three junior women’s (1973, 1986, 1993) championships. The men’s event began in 1950 and was played for the first time in Québec City, while the women’s event began in 1971 in Vancouver. The championships were conducted separately until being combined in 1987 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
The province last hosted the Canadian Juniors in 1993 in Trois-Rivières. Since then, it has also held the 2004 world juniors and the 2007 Canadian Seniors, both also in Trois-Rivières.
Québec has previously staged other national championships, including the Canadian Mixed (1967-Québec City; 1990-Rimouski), the Brier, on six occasions, the last being in Chicoutimi-Jonquière in 1988, and the Canadian women’s championship twice, both in Montreal, in 1967 and 1979.
Québec has won three Canadian junior men’s titles, in 1980 by skip Denis Marchand in Sault Ste. Marie; in 1992 in Vernon, B.C. by skip Michel Ferland and this past season (2008), once again in Sault Ste. Marie, by skip William Dion. Dion went on to finish third at the 2008 world juniors in Östersund, Sweden. Alberta leads all provinces with 15 Canadian junior men’s championships.
It has one Canadian junior women’s title, that by skip Marie-France Larouche in 1999 in Kelowna, British Columbia. Saskatchewan has won a leading 10 junior women’s crowns.
Meanwhile, the 2009 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors will take place in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, February 1-8, with the men’s and women’s finals both scheduled for Sunday, February 8. The winners will then represent Canada at the 2009 world juniors, March 5-15 in Vancouver. Canada has won a leading 16 men’s (since 1975) and eight women’s (since 1988) world junior titles.
M&M Meat Shops, Canada’s leading retail chain of specialty frozen foods, recently announced a three-year contract extension of its title sponsorship of the Canadian Juniors through 2012.
The only other Canadian curling championship previously announced to date for the 2009-2010 season is the 2010 Canadian Mixed, which will be held in Burlington, Ontario, November 15-22, 2009. Other confirmed events are the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, December 6-13, 2009 in Edmonton and the Pre-Trials Qualifier, November 10-15 in Prince George, British Columbia.