Gallant hit by extra-end loss; Carmody sets sights on playoffs after win
TIM GALL, Special to The Guardian
SALMON ARM, B.C. — Brett Gallant thinks his playoff chances were reduced Tuesday when he fell to 3-2 in a heart-breaking extra end loss to Northern Ontario’s Dylan Johnston in Draw 8 at the Canadian junior curling championships.
Erin Carmody, on the other had, feels her Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club team is in playoff contention following a victory that lifted the team’s record to 3-2.
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Northern Ontario men remain unbeaten at Juniors
SALMON ARM, BC, February 3…Northern Ontario, skipped by Dylan Johnston of Thunder Bay, remained the only undefeated team at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors through eight draws.
Tuesday afternoon, in a barnburner of a game, Northern Ontario edged Prince Edward Island, skipped by pre-event favourite Brett Gallant of Charlottetown, 9-8 in an extra end.
The match was one of wild swings. Gallant opened with three, but Johnston responded with a single in the second, then single steals in the third and fourth ends to tie it. Gallant took a 4-3 lead with one in the fifth, but Johnston came back with three in the sixth for a 6-4 advantage.
Gallant, though, matched that with his own three in the seventh, then stole a single for what appeared to be a safe 8-6 lead. But Northern Ontario took one in the ninth, then proceeded to steal in the 10th to force an extra end, then stole again in the 11th when Gallant missed a thin double with his last rock, an admittedly, ‘terrible’ shot.
Northern Ontario is now 5-0 while New Brunswick (Steve Burgess of Fredericton) and Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John’s) are a game back at 4-1 after afternoon byes.
Alberta (Kevin Yablonski of Calgary) is next at 4-2 after thumping Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 14-4. Saskatchewan (Mike Armstrong of Saskatoon) improved to 3-2 with a 6-4 decision over Manitoba (Sam Good of Winnipeg), which fell to 2-4. Prince Edward Island is also 3-2.
In the other game, Ontario (Bowie Abbis-Mills of Waterloo) whipped Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse), 15-3. The game finished in the seventh end, with Ontario laying seven and having last rock. However, Yukon conceded after Scoffin threw his final stone. The rules state that the seven points counted, even though not needed, since the Yukon conceded after throwing ALL of their stones.
Yukon coach Wade Scoffin said that the team’s plan for the seventh end was to try to steal, but, if failing, they’d concede. The concession, though, prevented Abbis-Mills from attempting what is believed to be the first eight-ender in national Juniors history (since 1950). Ontario is now 2-4 as well.
On the women’s side, Ontario’s Rachel Homan of Ottawa and Alberta (Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge) are knotted at 5-1 after wins this afternoon. Homan beat Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 9-3 while Alberta was a 7-4 winner over Northwest Territories, which was skipped today by local substitute Jennifer Gerow, replacing the injured Kate Maksymowich.
Homan’s only loss so far came at the hands of New Brunswick’s Ashley Howard of Moncton on Sunday night, a 7-6 defeat when Howard counted two in the 10th end.
“Yes, we’ve had a really good week,” said the 19-year-old Homan, who won a gold medal at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse. ” Just one rough game but for the most part, we’ve been able to play our game. They (New Brunswick) played really well and we were just off our game. They outshot us and deserved to win.
“There’s so many games. I mean I don’t think anyone can be out (eliminated) right now even if they’ve lost three or four games. There’s a lot of good teams here. We’re only half-way done. We’re not trying to look ahead. Just focus on each game. You can’t really get overly excited at this point. We’re confident if we continue to play our game and keep going the way we’re going, it’ll work out well.”
Defending champion Manitoba, skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg, kept pace in third with a 10-1 drubbing of Saskatchewan (Brooklyn Lemon of Regina), moving to 4-2, while Prince Edward Island (Erin Carmody of Summerside) was a 9-5 winner over Northern Ontario (Vanessa Maloney of Sudbury), upping its record to 3-2.
Play continues with Draw 9 tonight at 7:00 pm PT.