SAULT STE. MARIE, February 5…The Northern Ontario women, skipped by Ashley Miharija of Thunder Bay, won their fifth straight game at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors Tuesday afternoon, a 10-3 dismantling of British Columbia (Kelly Thompson of Richmond).

Thus, Northern Ontario improved its record to 5-0 after eight draws, but is being chased by Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg), which kept pace by winning a 6-5 extra-ender over Prince Edward Island, stealing singles in the 10th and 11th ends to move to 5-1.   Alberta (Maria Bushell of Calgary) had an afternoon bye to remain in third place at 4-1.

In other Draw 8 games, Nova Scotia (Danielle Parsons of Halifax) stole one in the 10th end to defeat Ontario (Danielle Inglis of Burlington), 7-6 while Saskatchewan (Stephanie McVicar of Saskatoon) also stole a single, in the 11th end, to edge Quebec (Kristen Richard of Lachine), 5-4.

In men’s, Ontario and Saskatchewan are currently knotted with 5-1 records, after both recorded tight wins this afternoon.

Ontario (Travis Fanset of St. Thomas) took two in the 10th end to clip winless Nova Scotia (Kelsey Amero of Halifax), 7-6, while Saskatchewan (Brennen Jones of Regina) was forced to an extra end before shading Quebec (William Dion of Drummondville), 6-5.

Behind the top pair are Alberta (Aaron Sluchinski of Drayton Valley) and British Columbia (Jay Wakefield of New Westminster).   Alberta had a bye but British Columbia squeaked out an 8-7 decision over Northern Ontario (Kory Carr of Thunder Bay).

In the other game, Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown) had no trouble with Manitoba (Kyle Peters of Winnipeg), winning 8-1 to improve last year’s runner-up team’s record to 3-2.

Draw 9 is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET.  

Round robin play continues at both Soo Curlers Association and Tarentorus Sports Club 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.

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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