(CCA Photo)
Newfoundland/Labrador, skipped by Colin Thomas of St. John’s, has advanced to the men’s semi-final on Sunday after beating New Brunswick (Jon Rennie of Fredericton), 7-5 in Friday afternoon’s tiebreaker at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Calgary. Other members of the NL team are third Cory Schuh, second Chris Ford, and lead Spencer Wicks [Editor’s note: Wicks is the grandson of Gordon and Wilna Yeo of Summerside].
After the first two ends were blanked, Thomas took three in the third and never looked back. Rennie closed the gap to 5-3 with a seventh end steal. Then, after Thomas took one in the eighth, Rennie responded with a deuce in nine to make it 6-5.
But New Brunswick was unable to remove a Newfoundland/Labrador counter in the 10th with its last stone, making the final, 7-5, as Thomas didn’t have to throw his last one.
Newfoundland/Labrador and New Brunswick had finished tied for third with 8-4 records, hence the need for a tiebreaker. Thomas had also beaten Rennie in Draw 2 of the round robin, 8-2.
Thomas now meets Ontario’s Mat Camm of Ottawa, the second place finisher who completed the round robin with a 9-3 mark, in the semi-final Sunday morning at 10:30 am MT. Camm was a 9-3 winner over Thomas in Draw 8 of the round robin.
The winner then advances to the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior men’s final on Sunday (5:30 pm MT/8:30 pm AT, live on TSN) to face unbeaten (12-0) Saskatchewan, skipped by Braeden Moskowy of Regina.
Saturday morning at 10:30 am MT, the women’s semi-final takes place between Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon) and Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg).
Saskatchewan finished second with a 9-3 mark, while Manitoba was third at 8-4. In their round robin encounter in Draw 7, Meakin took a 7-6 extra end decision.
The winner advances to the final Saturday evening (5:30 pm MT/7:30 pm AT, live on TSN) to meet host Alberta, skipped by Nadine Chyz of Calgary, who went 11-1 during the round robin in securing first place.