Four teams still unbeaten at Juniors

Three men’s teams and one women’s team remain undefeated after six draws of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Napanee, Ontario.

Northern Ontario Skip Brennan Wark (photo: Alex van Gulik)

Alberta (Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton) and Quebec (Félix Asselin of Montreal) both won their contests Sunday night to improve to 4-0, while Northern Ontario (Brennan Wark of Thunder Bay) has also yet to taste defeat, now at 3-0. Alberta took care of Ontario, 8-2 while Quebec whipped Northwest Territories, 10-4. In other games, Northern Ontario took out British Columbia, 9-4 while Newfoundland/Labrador (Colin Thomas of St. John’s) won his first, 9-3 over Prince Edward Island. Behind the unbeaten trio are Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, all at 2-1. In women’s, Alberta (Jocelyn Peterman of Red Deer) remained perfect at 4-0 with a 9-6 win over Ontario.

BC Skip Kesa Van Osch (Photo: Alex van Gulik)

British Columbia (Kesa Van Osch of Nanaimo) is now in second, a game behind at 3-1 after defeating Northern Ontario, 8-6. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba are deadlocked at 2-1. In other Sunday evening contests, Quebec was a 9-5 winner over Northwest Territories, while Prince Edward Island edged Newfoundland/Labrador, 6-5 in an extra end. Thirteen men’s and 13 women’s teams (representing the 10 provinces plus Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories and Yukon) are competing at the Strathcona Paper Centre and Napanee & District Curling Club. Round robin play continues with three draws daily (10:00 am, 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm) through Thursday, with the final two draws Friday at 8:00 am and 1:00 pm, after which, pending any tiebreakers, the first place teams advance to their respective finals, while the second and third place finishers meet in semi-finals. TSN will televise the women’s final on Saturday, February 11 and the men’s final on Sunday, February 12, with both games starting at 7:00 pm ET. The Canadian Junior Men’s Championship began in 1950 in Quebec City. Alberta has since won a leading 15 titles, while Saskatchewan next with 14. Saskatchewan has won a leading 11 Canadian Junior Women’s crowns since 1971. The winners of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors will then represent Canada at the World Juniors, March 3-11 in Östersund, Sweden. Canada has won a leading 16 world junior men’s titles since 1975 and eight women’s championships, tied with Scotland, since 1988.