SAULT STE. MARIE, February 3…The 2008 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors got underway Sunday morning at both Soo Curlers Association and Tarentorus Sports Club, as 13 men’s and 13 women’s teams vie for Canadian titles.

Host Northern Ontario got off on the right foot, winning both its men’s and women’s games against Northwest Territories.   The men, skipped by Kory Carr of Thunder Bay, defeated Colin Miller of Yellowknife, 10-7, while the women, skipped by Ashley Miharija, also of Thunder Bay, had no problem with Valisa Aho’s squad from Yellowknife, 11-2.

In other women’s games, Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg) defeated Quebec (Kristen Richard of Lachine), 9-4, British Columbia (Kelly Thompson of Richmond) walloped Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 13-5, while Saskatchewan (Stephanie McVicar of Saskatoon) proved a 9-7 winner over Nova Scotia (Danielle Parsons of Halifax).

On the men’s side, Quebec’s William Dion of Drummondville took one in the 10th end to edge Manitoba’s Kyle Peters of Winnipeg, 6-5, British Columbia (Jay Wakefield of New Westminster) eked out an 8-7 win over Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse), helped by a four-spot in the seventh end, while Saskatchewan (Brennen Jones of Regina) had no trouble with Nova Scotia (Kelsey Amero of Halifax), 9-3.

Round robin play continues on Sunday with Draw 2 at 3:00 pm and Draw 3 at 7:30 pm ET.   Draw times Monday through Friday are at 9:00 am, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

At the conclusion of the round robin, the first place teams advance to their respective finals on Sunday, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals on Saturday evening.

Both finals from Soo Curlers Association will be televised live across Canada on CBC-TV.  The women’s final will start at 12 noon, with the men’s final beginning at 1:30 pm ET.  The winners will then represent Canada at the world junior curling championships, March 1-9 in Östersund, Sweden.   Canada has won a leading 16 world junior men’s titles since 1975 and eight women’s crowns since 1988.

This is the third year of title sponsorship by M&M Meat Shops, Canada's largest retail chain of specialty frozen foods, which signed a new agreement with the Canadian Curling Association to sponsor the Canadian junior men’s and women’s curling championships through 2009.
                                       
Alberta leads all provinces with 15 junior men’s titles, while Saskatchewan is next with 13.   Northern Ontario has won four times, the last by Jeff Currie in 1996 in Edmonton.

Northern Ontario has yet to win a Canadian junior women’s crown since the event began in 1971 in Vancouver.  Saskatchewan leads with 10 victories. 

The men’s and women’s championships were conducted separately until being combined in 1987 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

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