The defending champion Lauren Lenentine rink from Cornwall remains undefeated and is one step closer to repeating as Junior Women’s champion at the Pepsi Provincial Juniors at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, after winning both the “A” and now the “B” finals of the modified triple knockout draw. This puts the team into both Saturday finals, where they will win the event if they win either game, while their opponent, the C finalist, would have to win both. If Team Lenentine advances to and wins the C event final at 6:30 this evening, they will be declared the champion at that point, and the championship round would not be played.
The Lenentine squad beat the Lauren Ferguson team from Crapaud, Cornwall, and Charlottetown by a 6-4 score in the B final this morning, stealing singles in the fifth through seventh ends. There were also two games in the C event this morning, with Annika Kelly of Charlottetown eliminating Cornwall’s Emily Sanderson team in a closely-fought 8-5 battle. Kelly got out of the gate fast with a three-point first end, but Sanderson scored a trio of singles to tie it up, and pulled ahead with a stolen single in the seventh. Kelly recovered with a deuce in eight and a pair of stolen singles to pull out the win. The other game saw Sydney Howatt eliminate her Cornwall clubmate Rachel MacLean with a 5-2 win. MacLean led 1-0 after the first five ends, with Howatt recording a triple in end six and a ninth-end steal for the win.
Lenentine plays Kelly, with Howatt facing Ferguson in the “C” semi-finals at 2 this afternoon, with the winners going to the 6:30 pm “C” final.
Meanwhile, in the Junior Men’s division, the Mitchell Schut team from Cornwall will be competing in their third section final, at 6:30 this evening. They will have to beat the Alex MacFadyen team from the Silver Fox three times – the C final, and both Saturday championship round games in order to win the championship, while a win in any of these games would punch MacFadyen’s ticket to the 2018 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Jan. 21 – 28 in Shawinigan Quebec.
Schut eliminated the Chase MacMillan team from Charlottetown with a 7-2 win this morning, after MacMillan sent Mitchell’s brother Devin to the sidelines with a 9-3 win on Thursday evening.