Host Alberta firing on all cylinders at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

There’s no place like home and after three draws of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Calgary, host Alberta is proving it. Sunday morning at the North Hill Community Curling Club, Nadine Chyz and her Calgary Curling Club teammates made short work of New Brunswick (Jennifer Armstrong of Fredericton), winning 10-3 to keep their record a pristine 3-0.

Nadine Chyz at the 2011 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors(Photo by: Vern Jones)

Meanwhile, Colin Hodgson and his squad, representing both the Calgary and North Hill clubs, also kept their record perfect at 3-0, clipping New Brunswick’s Jon Rennie of Fredericton, 8-4. Chyz, along with third Rebecca Pattison and lead Kimberly Anderson, competed in last year’s M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Sorel-Tracy, finishing a respectable fifth with an 8-5 record, after losing a tiebreaker to British Columbia. This year, the 20-year-old Mount Royal University student added Jessie Scheidegger at second and right now, things couldn’t be better. “I guess 3-0 is as good as it could get so far, “ said Chyz. “Last year, we were very hopeful but now that we look back on it, I really think we learned so much and have grown personally. Jessie (who finished third in 2009 at Salmon Arm as second for her sister Casey) has had experience, too. So we know what to expect at the national level and I think it’s made us stronger mentally. On playing in front of the home crowd, Chyz exclaimed, “I love it. All of us are so excited. It’s an amazing feeling to play here. I grew up here. It’s nice to have all the support of family and friends. They’re able to come instead of travelling so far. That’s been awesome and it’s great to have so many familiar faces on the front line. “It’s definitely a strong field this year. There’s lots of teams that have returned from last year, so they’ve learned as much as we did.” On playing three games on Monday, “We know it is going to be a long day, so we wanted to make sure we got enough sleep because you have to make sure your body is ready. Make sure we’re eating right, then taking it one game at a time. Can’t get ahead of ourselves.” Alberta is tied for top spot with Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon), a 13-3 winner over Northwest Territories (Taryn Williams of Yellowknife). Nova Scotia (Lindsay Doucet of Chester) is at 2-0 after a morning bye, while Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall), dropped to 2-1 after losing to Ontario (Clancy Grandy of Waterloo), 8-4. In other women’s games, Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse) improved to 2-1 by edging Newfoundland/Labrador’s Erin Porter of St. John’s, 6-5. Northern Ontario, skipped by last year’s third place finisher Kendra Lilly of Sudbury, won its first game by edging Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg), 7-6, as did last year’s runner-up, British Columbia’s Dailene Sivertson of Victoria, a 10-5 winner over Quebec (Alanna Routledge of Montreal). In men’s, Newfoundland/Labrador (Colin Thomas of St. John’s) joined Alberta at 3-0 by walloping Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse), 12-3, as did Saskatchewan, skipped by last year’s third place finisher Braeden Moskowy of Regina, who defeated Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 9-6. In other men’s action, Quebec (Vincent Bourget of Baie Comeau) improved to 2-1 by edging British Columbia (Jonathan Gardner of Vernon), 8-7; Northern Ontario (Cody Johnston of Thunder Bay) won its first, 8-5 over Manitoba (Sam Good of Stonewall), as did Ontario (Mat Camm of Ottawa), an 11-7 winner over Prince Edward Island (Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown). Play continues this afternoon and evening with round robin draws at the North Hill (1:30 pm and 6:00 pm) and the Glencoe (2:30 pm and 7:00 pm).