The 6th annual Fall Fling Junior Cashspiel wrapped up this afternoon at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, with Charlottetown’s Chris Gallant rink going undefeated in the event, beating the Jonathan Crouse rink from Truro 8-2 in only six ends to win the junior men’s final, and the Veronica Smith team from Cornwall defeating the Jenny McLean foursome from the host club 6-4 in the junior women’s final.
The Gallant team, which includes third Kyle Holland, second Taylor McInnis, and lead Andrew Cameron, with coaches Peter Gallant and Derrick Cameron, came on strong with a four point first end, and stole a single in the second, to build up a 5-0 lead after only two ends in the junior men’s final. The Crouse rink, which includes Andrew Burgess, Jacob LeBlanc, and Herman Suther, with coach Craig Burgess, got on the scoreboard with a single in three, but Gallant responded with a deuce in four, and it was all over after the teams traded singles in ends five and six.
Crouse advanced to the final with a 10-4 win over Tyler Smith of Cornwall in the morning semi-finals, while Gallant beat Montague’s Cody Dixon 9-4 in the other semi. Crouse and Gallant both had perfect 5-0 win-loss records in round robin action, with Smith going 4-1, and Dixon 3-2
The junior women’s final was much closer, with the hometown McLean team, which includes Lauren MacFadyen, Ava Coulter, and Emily VanIderstone, and is coached by Dr. Don Vickerson, drawing first blood, with a single in the opening end. The next three ends were blanked, and the Smith team, with Katie Fullerton at third, Sabrina Smith at second, and Chloe McCloskey at lead stone, with Paul Smith coaching, evened the score with a 5th end single. McLean had a single in six, with Smith moving ahead with a triple in the seventh. The teams traded deuces in eight and nine, and Smith ran McLean out of rocks in the final end.
In the semis, the McLean rink recovered from a four-one deficit at the hands of the Lindsey Doucet team from CFB Halifax, which includes Summerside area native Anita Casey at second, taking singles in ends four through seven to grab the lead and pull out an 8-6 win. Smith also had a come-from-behind victory in her semi. Trailing 3-1 after six ends to the Mary Myketyn-Driscoll rink from Truro, the Cornwall skip scored singles in ends seven through nine to pull ahead. The Truro team tied it up with a single in end ten, but a triple in the extra end gave Smith the ticket to the final. All four teams in the semi-finals had 4-1 records in round robin play.