Saskatchewan men move to 3-0 at Juniors

It’s early, for sure, but Saskatchewan, skipped by Braeden Moskowy of Regina, is off to a perfect start at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, presented by AMJ Campbell Van Lines, after a 9-2 trouncing of Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse) in Sunday morning’s fourth draw. The ‘green machine’ is now 3-0, although Alberta (Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton), Manitoba (Alex Forrest of Winnipeg), New Brunswick (Josh Barry of Rothesay) and Ontario (Jake Walker of Kitchener) are also unbeaten, all with 2-0 records. While his Callie Curling Club team has been together for only this season, Moskowy and third Matt Lang have partnered for the past eight years.  Not only that, they come from curling families.   Moskowy’s father Kelly and Lang’s dad Mark both played in the 2002 Nokia Brier in Calgary, as lead and third, respectively, for skip Scott Bitz, finishing with a 7-5 record after losing the Page 3-4 game to New Brunswick’s Russ Howard. “It was a pretty emotional moment (at this year’s provincials),” recalled the 19-year-old Moskowy, a Science student at the University of Regina.  “They (the fathers) were both up in P.A. (Prince Albert) watching us, so when we won, it was a nice moment, having them there to see it.” Both fathers will also be in attendance here in Sorel-Tracy.   “Matt’s dad is already here and mine is on the plane to Montreal as we speak, so he’ll be here for tonight’s game. We’re off to a good start. We’re catching on to the ice and the guys are playing real well in front of me.” Although Moskowy and Lang are making their national debuts, along with front-end twins Trent and Kelly Knapp, they’re somewhat battle-tested. “We’ve (Moskowy and Lang) lost the provincial semi-final the last two years.  I’ve played with Matt since we were 10 or 12 years old.  It was tough the past two years.  We were close, and the teams that won it, we’d beaten before, but it worked out well this time.” In other men’s results, Alberta hammered Quebec (Kevin Rivest of Montreal), 9-2; Manitoba walloped Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 8-2, while British Columbia (Tyler Klymchuk of Langley) eked out an 8-7 decision over winless Northern Ontario (Christian Tolusso of Thunder Bay). On the women’s side, Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg) and idle Ontario (Rachel Homan of Ottawa) are the only undefeated teams, tied with 2-0 marks.  Manitoba won its encounter, 19-4 over Northwest Territories (Amanda Moizis of Hay River); Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury) stole a deuce in the 10th end to defeat British Columbia (Dailene Sivertson of Victoria), 11-8; Alberta (Nadine Chyz of Calgary) thumped Quebec (Camille-Marie Lapierre of Otterburn Park), 12-4 and Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon) clipped Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 9-6 in an extra end. Round robin play continues at both Colisée Cardin and Club de Curling Aurèle-Racine with draws at 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm today.