The Capital One Junior Draw to the Button contest was held today during the Player’s Championship in Summerside, with junior representatives from Island curling clubs taking part. After the preliminaries, it was narrowed down to four finalists – Sabrina Smith from Cornwall, Lauren Moerike from Charlottetown, Marshall Smallman from O’Leary’s Maple Leaf club, and Brooks Roche from Montague.

The curlers had practiced on a different sheet than the one used for the finals, and found the ice much heavier than that which they had practiced on. The first three curlers’ rocks all fell short of the hog line, with the fourth curler, Roche, putting his stone short of the rings, but well inside the hog line, to win the event, and the prize of $1000 to the winning curler, and $10,000 for the winning club.

Brooks Roche from the Montague Curling Club poses with mascot “Slider” and  the Capital One Junior Draw to the Button trophy (Photo credit: Grand Slam of Curling)

Roche told Cheryl Bernard on Global TV that his immediate plans for the money were to take the team to dinner, while Montague club manager Larry Richards told her that the club would use their portion to purchase a Jet Ice system.