CALGARY, Alberta, January 26, 2011 (CCA)…The M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior men’s and women’s curling championships get underway Saturday in Calgary.
Thirteen men’s and 13 women’s teams (representing the 10 provinces plus Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories and Yukon) will compete. Round robin games will be played at both The Glencoe Club and North Hill Community Curling Club from Saturday through Thursday.
At the conclusion of the round robin, and, after any tiebreakers (to be played at The Glencoe, if necessary, on Friday), the first place teams advance to their respective finals, while the second and third place finishers meet in semi-finals. The women’s semi-final takes place Saturday morning while the men’s semi-final is Sunday morning, both at the North Hill.
The women’s and men’s finals will also be played at the North Hill and will be televised live across Canada on TSN. The women’s final takes place on Saturday, February 5 at 5:30 pm MT/8:30 pm AT, while the men’s final is on Sunday, February 6, also at 5:30 pm MT/8:30 pm AT.
It’s the sixth year of title sponsorship by M&M Meat Shops, Canada’s leading retail chain of specialty frozen foods.
The winners will then represent Canada at the 2011 world junior curling championships, March 5-13 in Perth, Scotland. Canada has won a leading 16 world junior men’s titles since 1975 and eight women’s crowns since 1988.
The host province is represented this year by two teams from Calgary, skipped by Nadine Chyz and Colin Hodgson. Chyz, who finished fifth at last year’s M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, when won by Ontario’s Rachel Homan, will be facing some familiar foes, including British Columbia’s Dailene Sivertson of Victoria, Northern Ontario’s Kendra Lilly of Sudbury and Saskatchewan’s Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon, the second, third and fourth-place finishers, respectively, in 2010.
On the men’s side, Saskatchewan’s Braeden Moskowy of Regina, last year’s third place finisher to Ontario’s Jake Walker, is returning. His challengers include Northern Ontario’s Cody Johnston of Thunder Bay, runner-up in 2009 and Ontario’s Mat Camm of Ottawa, who competed in December at the Canada Cup in Medicine Hat, facing the likes of 2010 Olympic gold medallist Kevin Martin and three-time world champion Glenn Howard.
Last year’s Canadian champions, Homan and Walker, went on to earn a silver medal and a bronze medal, respectively, at the World Juniors in Flims, Switzerland.
PEI is represented by the Sarah Fullerton rink from Cornwall, and the Spencer Pitre team from Charlottetown.
The Canadian junior men’s curling championship began in 1950 in Quebec City. Alberta has since won a leading 15 Canadian junior men’s titles, the last by Charley Thomas in 2007, and five junior women’s crowns, the last by Heather Nedohin (Godberson) in 1996, since the inaugural event in 1971 in Vancouver. The men’s and women’s championships were contested separately until being combined, beginning in 1987 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
Alberta has previously hosted six Canadian junior men’s and five Canadian junior women’s championships, the last in Calgary in 1998, when won by Ontario’s John Morris and New Brunswick’s Melissa McClure.
Click for draw schedule
Draw results will be instantly available on the Canadian Curling Association website at www.curling.ca.
Juniors website: www.curling.ca/championships/juniors/
CCA Photo: Breanne Meakin at the 2010 Juniors
Here are the team rosters:
2011 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Men’s & Women’s Curling Championships
January 29-February 6
The Glencoe Club and North Hill Community Curling Club
Calgary, Alberta
WOMEN’S TEAMS (listed in order of skip, third, second, lead and coach)
Alberta – Calgary Curling Club, Calgary
Nadine Chyz, Rebecca Pattison, Jessie Scheidegger, Kimberly Anderson, J.D. Lind
British Columbia – Victoria Curling Club, Victoria
Dailene Sivertson, Jessie Sanderson, Erinn Bartlett, Brandi Tinkler, Cindy Tucker
Manitoba – St. Vital Curling Club, Winnipeg
Breanne Meakin, Briane Meilleur, Erika Sigurdson, Krysten Karwacki, Rob Meakin
New Brunswick – Riverside Country Club, Rothesay
Jennifer Armstrong, Abby Burgess, Katie Haley, Shelby Wilson, Gary Wilson
Newfoundland and Labrador – Re/Max Centre, St. John’s
Erin Porter, Tara O’Brien, Jess Cunningham, Erica Trickett, Geoff Cunningham
Northern Ontario – Idylwylde Golf & Country Club, Sudbury
Kendra Lilly, Jen Gates, Kim Curtin, Courtney Chenier, Jan Pula
Northwest Territories – Yellowknife Curling Centre, Yellowknife
Taryn Williams, Janis O’Keefe, Paige Elkin, Katharine Thomas, Maurice Cormier
Nova Scotia – Chester Curling Club, Chester
Lindsay Doucet (third rocks), Sara Spafford (fourth rocks), Meryn Avery, Ellen Graham, Marie Christianson
Ontario – KW Granite Club, Waterloo
Clancy Grandy, Sarah Wilkes, Laura Crocker, Lynn Kreviazuk, Alex Bianchi
Prince Edward Island – Cornwall Curling Club, Cornwall
Sarah Fullerton, Michelle McQuaid, Sara MacRae, Whitney Young, Angela Hodgson
Quebec – Glenmore Curling Club, Montreal and Hudson Legion Curling Club, Hudson
Alanna Routledge, Kelly Gazdewich, Melanie Maclean, Joëlle St-Hilaire, Robert Maclean
Saskatchewan – Nutana Curling Club, Saskatoon
Trish Paulsen, Kari Kennedy, Kari Paulsen, Natalie Yanko, Bob Miller
Yukon – Whitehorse Curling Club, Whitehorse
Sarah Koltun, Chelsea Duncan, Linea Eby, Jenna Duncan, Lindsay Moldowan
2011 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Men’s & Women’s Curling Championships
January 29-February 6
The Glencoe Club and North Hill Community Curling Club
Calgary, Alberta
MEN’S TEAMS (listed in order of skip, third, second, lead and coach)
Alberta –Calgary Curling Club & North Hill Community Curling Club, Calgary
Colin Hodgson, Michael Ng, Parker Konschuh, Derek Clark, Stan Usselman
British Columbia – Vernon Curling Club, Vernon
Jonathan Gardner, Michael Longworth, Michael Hiram, Jonathon Hatten, Mark Longworth
Manitoba – Stonewall Curling Club, Stonewall
Sam Good, Riley Smith, Taylor McIntyre, Dillon Bednarek, Guy Mao
New Brunswick – Capital Winter Club, Fredericton
Jon Rennie (third rocks), Josh Barry (fourth rocks), Chris MacRae, Andrew O’Dell, David MacRae
Newfoundland and Labrador – Re/Max Centre, St. John’s
Colin Thomas, Cory Schuh, Chris Ford, Spencer Wicks, Jeff Thomas
Northern Ontario – Fort William Curling Club, Thunder Bay
Cody Johnston, Mike Badiuk, Mark Adams, Michael Makela, Ray Skillen
Northwest Territories – Yellowknife Curling Centre, Yellowknife
Colin Miller, David Aho, John Murray, Matthew Miller, Maureen Miller
Nova Scotia – Mayflower Curling Club, Halifax
Kendal Thompson, Cameron MacKenzie, Stuart Thompson, Andrew Komlodi, Mary Mattatall
Ontario – Ottawa Curling Club, Ottawa
Mat Camm, Scott Howard, David Mathers, Andrew Hamilton, Will Hamilton
Prince Edward Island – Charlottetown Curling Club, Charlottetown
Spencer Pitre, Matthew Nabuurs, Eric Pidgeon, Connor MacPhee, Peter Pidgeon
Quebec – Baie Comeau Curling Club, Baie Comeau
Vincent Bourget, Maxime Benoît, Matt Westphal, Michael Fortin, Benoît Arsenault
Saskatchewan – Caledonian (Callie) Curling Club, Regina
Braeden Moskowy, Kirk Muyres, Colton Flasch, Matt Lang, Dwayne Mihalicz
Yukon – Whitehorse Curling Club, Whitehorse
Thomas Scoffin, Josh Burns, Mitch Young, Will Mahoney, Wade Scoffin