SAULT STE. MARIE, February 3…Day 1 drew to a close Sunday at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors with seven teams still unbeaten through three draws.

On the men’s side, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan enjoy perfect 2-0 marks, while in women’s, British Columbia, Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan share the same 2-0 records.

In men’s Draw 3 action, Manitoba (Kyle Peters of Winnipeg) defeated Nova Scotia (Kelsey Amero of Halifax), 10-6, Alberta (Aaron Sluchinski of Drayton Valley) pulled out a 9-8 win over Northern Ontario (Kory Carr of Thunder Bay), last year’s runner-up Brett Gallant of Charlottetown, PEI took out Newfoundland and Labrador’s Colin Thomas of St. John’s, 7-3, Ontario’s Travis Fanset of St. Thomas beat Quebec’s William Dion of Drummondville, 7-4 and British Columbia’s Jay Wakefield of New Westminster had an easy time with New Brunswick’s Jon Rennie of Rothesay, an 8-1 decision which ended after six ends.

On the women’s side, British Columbia’s Kelly Thompson of Richmond defeated New Brunswick’s Mary Jane McGuire of Fredericton, 9-3, Northern Ontario (Ashley Miharija of Thunder Bay) beat Alberta’s Maria Bushell of Calgary, 11-4, Prince Edward Island’s Erin Carmody of Summerside thrashed Newfoundland and Labrador’s Julie Devereaux of St. John’s, 10-2, Quebec’s Kristen Richard of Lachine edged Ontario’s Danielle Inglis of Burlington, 5-4, while Nova Scotia’s Danielle Parsons of Halifax stole singles in the 10th and 11th ends to prevail over Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg), 6-5.

Round robin play continues at both Soo Curlers Association and Tarentorus Sports Club Monday through Friday, with draw times at 9:00 am, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm ET.

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 at 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.

CurlTV (www.curltv.com) is also providing extensive event coverage of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors to its subscribers.

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