The O’Connor Glass Provincial age 17 and Under Curling Championships got underway this afternoon at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside, with six women’s and four men’s teams taking part. Following the two opening day draws, the Matthew MacLean rink from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary and the Tony Nabuurs foursome from the Montague Curling Club have 2-0 win-loss records on the men’s side, while the Veronica Smith team from the Cornwall Curling Club is undefeated at 2-0 in the women’s division.

In draw one, Carolyn Rose of Montague beat Emily Keen of Charlottetown/Crapaud 9-2, Cornwall’s Rachel O’Connor beat Emily Hennessey of Charlottetown, also 9-2, Smith took a triple in the seventh, and stole a single in eight in a 7-6 come from behind win over Jenny McLean of the Silver Fox, while Nabuurs beat Montague clubmate Brooks Roche 8-5, and MacLean downed Alex MacFadyen of Summerside 8-3.

In the second draw, MacLean beat Roche 6-4, Nabuurs won 9-3 over MacFadyen, Smith got by Hennessey by a 6-4 score, McLean stole four points in the sixth and a deuce in the seventh in a 7-2 win over Rose, and  Keen, trailing 6-3 coming home, stole four points in the final end to come back and edge O’Connor  7-6..

Round robin play continues on Saturday, with draws at 10 am and 2:30 and 7 pm, and wraps up Sunday with the 10 am draw.

The top two teams from the 17 & Under women’s round robin, following any tiebreakers, will advance to a best of three final round, with the final two games Monday at 10 am and, if needed, 2:30 pm.

The top two teams from the 17 & Under men’s double round robin, following any tiebreakers,  will advance to a sudden death final, Monday at 10 am. 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 winning rinks advance to the Atlantic Under 18 Curling Championships, April 6-8 at the Bluenose Curling Club in New Glasgow NS.