P.E.I.’s Fullerton rink splits games, Matters foursome drops pair at the Canadian junior curling championships
- (by Tim Gall).
NAPANEE, ONT. — The slim playoff chances for the P.E.I. teams took another hit Tuesday at the M&M Meats Canadian junior curling championships.
Sarah Fullerton’s Cornwall and Charlottetown team split a pair of games, but now has four losses and will need a good streak the rest of the week to reach the playoffs.
Fullerton, Michelle McQuaid, Sara MacRae and Hillary Thompson are not eliminated from the chase, but can’t afford many more losses.
Alex Matters and his Charlottetown team of Chris Gallant, Kyle Holland and Andrew Cameron lost two close contests to fall to 2-5, well back of the leaders.
Yukon scored three points in the ninth end in the afternoon to break open a tie game and score a 7-4 victory over the Matters foursome.
In the morning contest, the P.E.I. team lost 5-4 to Ontario when the host province scored a single in the final frame.
Photo special to The Guardian by Tim Gall
P.E.I. skip Sarah Fullerton yells instructions to her sweepers during Tuesday’s game against Yukon at the Canadian junior curling championships in Napanee, Ont.
As for Fullerton, her team scored four points in the last end when Ontario was trying to steal a point and the result was an 11-6 victory.
In the afternoon encounter against Yukon, the team fell 9-5 as Yukon posted three points in each of the second and sixth ends.
“We had a chance to steal three there in the ninth, but you got to hand it to (skip) Sarah Koltun there, she made a great shot,” said Fullerton, a three-time provincial junior champion. “We put the end together pretty good, and it was looking in our favour. Even to steal two would have been good, but that’s how it goes.
Matters had similar sentiments after the team’s second loss of the day.
“Obviously, this isn’t the record we were looking for,” he said. “But we’re not playing too badly, so we’re just enjoying the experience and seeing how we can do. We have to keep plugging along, we’ve had some bad breaks and just a couple of misses have come at the wrong time.”