Two draws are in the books after opening day play at the Pepsi Provincial junior championships at the Charlottetown Curling Club.  Three rinks – the Alex Matters foursome from Charlottetown, and teams skipped by Matthew MacLean out of the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, and his sister Amanda MacLean and her Cornwall/Maple Leaf rink, remain undefeated.

Two-time junior women’s champion Sarah Fullerton from the Charlottetown and Cornwall clubs was handed her first loss in the afternoon draw, losing 8-5 to the Veronica Smith rink from Cornwall, which includes Fullerton’s sister, Katie, at third. Fullerton had downed Emily Keen from the host club 8-2 in her opener.

Photo (L-R) Amanda MacLean, Emily Gray

Amanda MacLean’s rink, which includes Youth Olympian Emily Gray at second, recorded an 8-6 win over Smith and a 10-2 victory over Keen, who had to replace her third in the event due to a death in the family.

Fullerton and Smith are both 1-1, while Keen is 0-2 after Thursday action in the four team junior women’s section.

Matthew MacLean’s team doubled the Alex MacFadyen rink from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside by a 12-6 score in the opening draw of the six team junior men’s division, and beat Sam Ramsay and his host club team, which includes two members of last year’s junior men’s championship rink, by a 7-4 score.

The Alex Matters foursome, with Matters calling the game and throwing third, and Chris Gallant throwing final stones, beat the Cody Dixon rink from Montague by an 9-3 score, and topped Cornwall’s Jeffrey Taylor squad 6-4.

Dixon and Ramsay are 1-1 after opening day play, while MacFadyen and Taylor are 0-2.

Unbeaten Matters and Matthew MacLean square off, and defending champion Fullerton faces undefeated Amanda MacLean in 10 am Friday play. Other Friday draws go at 2:30 and 7 pm.

The top two teams from the junior men’s round robin, which concludes with the 7 pm Friday draw, will advance to a best of three final round. The junior women are playing a double round robin, which wraps up on Saturday morning with the 10 am draw. The top two junior women’s teams then play in a sudden death final. In the event that one team goes through the double round robin undefeated, they will be declared the winner, without playing the one-game final.

The junior women’s championship game, if required, goes Monday January 2 at 10 am, while the first junior men’s final goes Saturday at 10 am or 2:30 pm, or Sunday at 1 pm, depending on tiebreakers. The second junior men’s best of three game goes Monday at 10 am, with the third, if needed, taking place at 2:30 pm Monday.

Complete draw and live end-by-end results are available at peicurling.com/juniors and at livecurling.com.

The junior men’s and women’s champions will advance to the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, February 4-12, 2012, in Napanee Ontario.