Ontario women stay unbeaten, now only Manitoba and Saskatchewan perfect in men’s

Ontario (Rachel Homan of Ottawa) moved to 4-0 at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, edging Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg), 6-4 in Monday morning’s Draw 7. In the battle between last year’s finalists, Homan was able to claim victory in the 10th end when chipping out an open Manitoba second shot, leaving Ontario with a winning three-spot.  Manitoba had taken a 4-3 lead with a deuce in the ninth end, but couldn’t hold it in the 10th. Last year in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Homan lost the national final to Manitoba, 7-4, when Meakin was playing lead for Kaitlyn Lawes.  This year, Homan has one new member on her Ottawa Curling Club team, Laura Crocker at second, joining third Emma Miskew and lead Lynn Kreviazuk. Meakin, meanwhile, has taken over a new team, representing the St. Vital Curling Club, as skip.  The loss dropped Manitoba to 2-2. Behind Ontario, at 3-1, are Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury), Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon), both idle this morning, and British Columbia (Dailene Sivertson of Victoria), which defeated Quebec (Camille-Marie Lapierre of Otterburn Park), 9-7, clinched with a steal in the 10th. Other scores saw Yukon (Sarah Koltun) whip Northwest Territories (Amanda Moizis of Hay River), 14-2 while Newfoundland and Labrador (Jen Cunningham of St. John’s) routed Alberta (Nadine Chyz of Calgary), 8-2. On the men’s side, in a confrontation between two undefeated teams, Manitoba (Alex Forrest of Winnipeg) went to an extra end before edging Ontario (Jake Walker of Kitchener), 5-4. Ontario had a chance to win it with a deuce in the 10th but Walker’s last rock hit and rolled too far for second shot, thereby taking only a single.  In the 11th, with a Manitoba counter buried and biting the button, Walker wrecked on a guard with his final rock and Forrest did not have to throw his last stone. The victory moved Manitoba into a tie for top spot with idle Saskatchewan (Braeden Moskowy of Regina), both at 4-0.  Ontario dropped to 3-1, joined by New Brunswick (Josh Barry of Rothesay), which had the morning bye, and Alberta (Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton), which rallied with a deuce in the 10th end to defeat winless Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John’s), 6-5. In other games, Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse) won its first game by clipping arch-rival Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 7-6, taking two in the 10th end for bragging rights, while British Columbia (Tyler Klymchuk of Langley) won a wild one over Quebec (Kevin Rivest of Montreal), 9-8. The round robin continues with draws at 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm, at both Colisée Cardin and Club de curling Aurèle-Racine.