Undefeated leaders continue to roll at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

There was no change atop the leaderboards at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors after Draw 8 was completed Tuesday afternoon at the Glencoe and North Hill Curling Clubs in Calgary. Saskatchewan, skipped by Braeden Moskowy of Regina, ripped British Columbia (Jonathan Gardner of Vernon), 11-2 to move to 7-0 in men’s, while hometown favourite Nadine Chyz of Calgary went to 8-0 with a 6-4 decision over winless Northwest Territories (Taryn Williams of Yellowknife). Meanwhile, the other ‘host team’, Alberta men, skipped by Colin Hodgson of Calgary, put an end to a brutal slide by beating Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), who were on a two-game win streak, 6-3, to even its record at 4-4. Hodgson had opened the championship with three straight wins, then proceeded to drop his next four. But, his loss Monday night to Ontario was a close one, 6-4 and the team took some consolation in their effort. “We were certainly in a bit of a slide, “ said Hodgson. “It’s tough not to go into a downward spiral and keep going down. So we refocused. Even though we lost against Ontario, we played well and it was still a good game. They played outstanding. Definitely that momentum carried over to today’s game and we played a lot better, made a lot more shots. They (Northwest Territories) beat some good teams. We weren’t taking them lightly. Colin’s a great skip and has been here a lot. On the likelihood of having to run the table in order to qualify for a tiebreaker, Hodgson said, “We’re hoping on some other games (results) but we’ve still got to take care of our own business the next four games. “We’d rather be playing here than anywhere else. I said it all year. I looked forward to it and have definitely appreciated all the support we have received.” In other men’s games, Ontario (Mat Camm of Ottawa) whipped Newfoundland/Labrador’s Colin Thomas of St. John’s, 9-3, to move into a tie for second with Nova Scotia (Kendal Thompson of Halifax) with 5-2 marks. Thompson edged New Brunswick (Jon Rennie of Fredericton), 10-8. With the losses, both Newfoundland/Labrador and New Brunswick slipped to 5-3. Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse) was a 10-3 winner over Prince Edward Island (Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown) to improve to 4-3. Following Alberta is Northern Ontario (Cody Johnston of Thunder Bay) at 3-4, after defeating Quebec (Vincent Bourget of Baie Comeau), 7-3. Manitoba (Sam Good of Stonewall), Northwest Territories and British Columbia are at 2-5, while PEI and Quebec are 2-6. On the women’s side, British Columbia, skipped by Dailene Sivertson of Victoria, climbed into a second place tie at 5-2 with Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon), stealing one in an extra end for a hard fought 4-3 decision. Sivertson was the runner-up last year, losing the final to Ontario’s Rachel Homan in Sorel-Tracy, while Paulsen finished fourth. With a 10-8 win over Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, skipped by Jennifer Armstrong of Fredericton, moved into fourth spot with a 5-3 record. Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg) and Ontario (Clancy Grandy of Waterloo) are next at 4-3. Grandy defeated Newfoundland/Labrador’s Erin Porter of St. John’s, 9-3. Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall) is now 4-4 after a 10-5 win over Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse). Yukon, Nova Scotia (Lindsay Doucet of Chester) and Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury) are at 3-4. Lilly edged Quebec’s Alanna Routledge of Montreal, 7-6, taking a deuce in the 10th. Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador fell to 2-6 while Northwest Territories is 0-7. Play resumes with Draw 9 at 5:30 pm at the North Hill, 6:30 pm at The Glencoe.