Five-way tie for lead in women’s at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors
SALMON ARM, BC, February 2…There’s now a logjam for top spot on the women’s side at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, after the completion of Draw 6 Monday night at the Sunwave Centre and Salmon Arm Curling Club.
Five teams share first place with 3-1 records: Alberta (Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge) and Ontario (Rachel Homan of Ottawa), both of whom were idle tonight, along with Manitoba, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
Defending champion Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg moved into a share of the lead with an 8-3 win over British Columbia (Kelly Shimizu of Richmond). New Brunswick (Ashley Howard of Moncton) rebounded from its first loss by defeating Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 10-4. Saskatchewan (Brooklyn Lemon of Regina) edged Newfoundland and Labrador (Erin Porter of St. John’s), 6-5.
In other games, Northern Ontario (Vanessa Maloney of Sudbury) whacked Northwest Territories, 15-4, clinched by a seven-ender in the sixth and final end, while Prince Edward Island (Erin Carmody of Summerside) defeated Nova Scotia (Marie Christianson of Halifax), 9-4.
The results left four teams at 2-2: Northern Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, followed by British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Yukon at 1-3, while Northwest Territories (Kate Maksymowich of Yellowknife) is winless at 0-4.
In men’s, front-runners New Brunswick (Steve Burgess of Fredericton) and Northern Ontario (Dylan Johnston of Thunder Bay) stayed perfect, now at 4-0. New Brunswick handled Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse), 8-4 while Northern Ontario took out Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 9-2.
Three teams are deadlocked with 3-1 marks: idle Alberta (Kevin Yablonski of Calgary), Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John’s) and Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown). Newfoundland and Labrador stoles singles in the 10th and 11th ends to edge Saskatchewan (Mike Armstrong of Saskatoon), 8-7, while Prince Edward Island had no trouble with Nova Scotia (Paul Dexter of St. Andrews), 9-3.
The other game saw British Columbia (Bryan Kedziora of Maple Ridge) rally from a 6-3 deficit after seven ends to defeat Manitoba (Sam Good of Winnipeg), 9-7, taking three in the 10th to seal the victory.
Behind the top five come British Columbia and Saskatchewan, now at 2-2, with Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario (Bowie Abbis-Mills of Waterloo), Quebec (Andrew Leigh of Lachine) and Yukon all at 1-3, while Northwest Territories at 0-4.
The round robin continues through Friday with draws at 9:00 am, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm Pacific time, after which the first place teams advance to their respective finals next Sunday, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals on Saturday.
TSN will carry the women’s final live on February 8 at 11:30 am PT/ 3:30 pm AT, followed by the men’s final at 4:00 pm PT/8:00 pm Atlantic.
The winners of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors will then represent Canada at the world juniors, March 5-15 at the Olympic Centre in Vancouver. Canada has won a leading 16 world junior men’s titles since 1975 and eight women’s crowns since 1988.