SALMON ARM, BC, February 5 (CCA)…It’s their Super Bowl, a budding rivalry which only happens at one national curling championship…the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, when separate entries for the Yukon and Northwest Territories collide on the ice.
Today was that day, as Yukon skip Sarah Koltun and her Whitehorse Curling Club teammates took on Northwest Territories skip Kate Makysomich, who returned to play after nursing a cartilage injury for a few days, and her Yellowknife Curling Club foursome, while, a sheet over, Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin was battling NWT’s Colin Miller.
Thursday morning’s results? A Yukon sweep, as Koltun defeated Maksymowich, 9-4, after building a 6-1 lead through six ends while Scoffin beat Miller, 4-1. For the 15-year-old Koltun, it’s been a week to remember already. The victory was her team’s fourth, as it now sits at 4-5. Last year, while skipping but throwing third rocks, she was 0-12 in Sault Ste. Marie, losing to rival NWT in the process, while in 2007 at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in St. Catharines, her team was 1-11. However, that single victory came against the Territories.
No doubt the highlight so far was beating the defending Canadian champion Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg last night in Draw 12, stealing singles in the ninth and 10th ends to notch a shocking 8-6 win.
“They counted four in the fifth end and we thought, oh, it’s over now. But in the sixth end suddenly I had a shot for four and I made it and we were tied again. And then it was just kind of back and forth from there. It was great. The first thing I did (after the game ended) was run over and give my little brother Jonathan a big hug.”
On now throwing skip rocks, Koltun said “We changed that after the nationals last year. We had two more competitions after…the Arctic Winter Games and Optimists, under 18, where I threw skip rocks.”
On its success so far, “We were going for three wins” said Koltun, about the team’s goals prior to the start of the week. That goal has already been surpassed, with three more games remaining in the round robin. “We’re really enjoying the week. Usually, it’s a big rivalry (Yukon vs NWT). When we beat them at the Winter Games, they were really mad.”
The three leaders on the women’s side all had morning byes: Ontario (Rachel Homan of Ottawa), at 7-1, Alberta (Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge) at 6-2 and Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg) at 5-3.
In other games this morning, British Columbia (Kelly Shimizu of Richmond) improved to 5-4 with a 10-2 pasting of Nova Scotia (Marie Christianson of Halifax), as did Prince Edward Island (Erin Carmody of Summerside), an 11-7 winner over Newfoundland and Labrador (Erin Porter of St. John’s) and Northern Ontario (Vanessa Maloney of Sudbury), which edged New Brunswick (Ashley Howard of Moncton), 6-5. PEI’s Carmody now has a 5-4 win-loss record.
On the men’s side, the Yukon win moved Scoffin’s team to 2-7, tied with NWT, while Northern Ontario and Prince Edward Island moved to 7-2 atop the leaderboard with victories. Northern Ontario (Dylan Johnston of Thunder Bay) beat New Brunswick (Steve Burgess of Fredericton), 8-4, while Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown) won a squeaker over Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John’s), 8-7 in an extra end. The other game saw Nova Scotia (Paul Dexter of St. Andrews) defeat British Columbia (Bryan Kedziora of Maple Ridge), 6-3.
Round robin draws continue at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm today (6 and 11 Atlantic). PEI teams play Alberta in the late draw.