Only one men’s team still undefeated at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

Through four draws of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Calgary, only Saskatchewan, skipped by last year’s third place finisher Braeden Moskowy of Regina, remains unbeaten in the men’s competition. Saskatchewan took down Quebec (Vincent Bourget of Baie Comeau), 9-3 Sunday afternoon to push its record to 4-0. However, two others suffered their first loss of the week. Newfoundland/Labrador (Colin Thomas of St. John’s) was upended by Manitoba (Sam Good of Stonewall), 9-7, while host Alberta (Colin Hodgson of Calgary) was edged 6-5 by Nova Scotia (Kendal Thompson of Halifax). Both dropped to 3-1. It came down to last rock in the Alberta-Nova Scotia game, as Thompson, facing two Alberta counters, hit and stayed for the win, improving his Mayflower Curling Club team’s record to 2-1. Said the 20-year-old Saint Mary’s University Accounting student, who is making his Juniors debut, “We’re having a great time. It was a good game. I feel we have a really strong team. “Our expectations were to make the playoffs. So we hope to do that. And if we play like that (the rest of the week), we should.” Thompson, who has been curling for 13 years, finally knocked the door down at the provincials this year, as one of the favoured rinks. “We’ve been close at the provincials the last two or three years, could have won it, although we never did play in a final. We just couldn’t close and finish it. This year, we’re having much more success. We’re finishing.” In other games, Ontario (Mat Camm of Ottawa) whacked winless Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 14-1 to improve to 2-1. New Brunswick (Jon Rennie of Fredericton) improved to 2-2, the same as Manitoba and Quebec, after clipping Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse), 9-8. Yukon dropped to 1-3. Idle Northern Ontario (Cody Johnston of Thunder Bay) is at 1-2 while British Columbia (Jonathan Gardner of Vernon) won its first, clipping Prince Edward Island (Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown), 6-5 in an extra end, to move to 1-2 while The Islanders dropped to 1-3. In women’s, the two undefeated leaders continued to set the pace while moving to 4-0. Alberta (Nadine Chyz of Calgary) hammered Nova Scotia (Lindsay Doucet of Chester), 11-3, handing the ‘Bluenosers’ their first loss, while Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon) beat Quebec (Alanna Routledge of Montreal), 8-4. Ontario (Clancy Grandy of Waterloo) moved to 2-1, tied with Nova Scotia, after an 11-1 verdict over winless Northwest Territories (Taryn Williams of Yellowknife). British Columbia (Dailene Sivertson of Victoria) decisioned Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall), 8-7, to also improve to 2-1, while PEI fell to 2-2. New Brunswick (Jennifer Armstrong of Fredericton) improved to 2-2, staging a late rally to nip Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 10-9 in an extra end. After giving up a five-spot in the seventh end, New Brunswick counted two in the 10th end to tie it, then stole one on a measure in the 11th. Yukon fell to 2-2 as well. Idle Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury), third place finisher last year, is at 1-2 while Newfoundland/Labrador (Erin Porter of St. John’s) won its first, 12-3 over Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg), as both now reside at 1-3, along with Quebec.