The draw is set for the first Curl PEI provincial curling championship of the season, the Pepsi Juniors, for curlers under age 21, with eight junior men’s, and seven junior women’s teams from six of the Island’s seven dedicated curling facilities competing. The Pepsi Juniors takes place at the six-sheet Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, with opening draw Thursday December 19 at 7 pm, and the finals on Monday the 23rd, also at 7 pm. Friday draws are at 1 and 7 pm, with Saturday action at 10 am, and 3 pm, and Sunday play at 9 am, and 2 and 7 pm. There is a 9 am timeslot on Monday in the event that a second women’s tiebreaker round is needed, followed by the semi-finals at 2 and the finals at 7 pm.

Defending champions are the Veronica Smith rink from the Cornwall Curling Club, and the Tyler Smith team, who also curled out of Cornwall. Veronica is back with last year’s team intact, while Tyler  has a new team this year, out of Montague.

The junior men will play a triple-knockout format, which will qualify four teams for a Page championship round. The junior women will play a single-pool round robin, with the top three teams advancing to the championship round.

The winning junior men’s and women’s rinks will advance to the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, January 18-26, 2014 in Liverpool NS.

Full team rosters, and the event draw are now available at PEICurling.com/juniors. End-by-end results will also be available at that same website.