With Alberta’s Nadine Chyz of Calgary, the unbeaten leader at 8-0, enjoying an evening bye, her pursuers jostled for position in Tuesday evening’s Draw 9 of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors.
One of those teams working its way into contention is Manitoba, skipped by 20-year-old Breanne Meakin, who won this Canadian championship when playing lead for Kaitlyn Lawes in 2009 in Salmon Arm.
Manitoba moved into a third place tie with British Columbia and Ontario, after an 11-6 victory over Quebec (Alanna Routledge of Montreal), and now sports a record of 5-3. It was the fourth win in a row for Meakin’s St. Vital Curling Club team, after three consecutive losses, including two blowouts to Alberta and Newfoundland/Labrador.
Regardless of what happens here the rest of the week, Meakin will be off to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown later in the month, as the fifth for veteran Cathy Overton-Clapham’s team. She was her regular third until this week, when Meakin went to the Juniors and Overton-Clapham won the Manitoba provincial women’s on the weekend.
Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall) took down winless Northwest Territories (Taryn Williams of Yellowknife), 12-2.
In men’s, Saskatchewan, skipped by Braeden Moskowy of Regina, kept its perfect record intact, now at 8-0, after beating New Brunswick (Jon Rennie of Fredericton), 9-4.
Ontario (Mat Camm of Ottawa) moved into second place at 6-2, after a gritty 5-3 win over Nova Scotia (Kendal Thompson of Halifax).
Newfoundland/Labrador (Colin Thomas of St. John’s) is now third at 6-3, after decisioning British Columbia (Jonathan Gardner of Vernon), 8-5.
With the losses, Nova Scotia dropped to 5-3 while New Brunswick is now 5-4.
Prince Edward Island (Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown) was a 7-5 victor over Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife).
PEI men and women play Alberta and Manitoba today.