SAULT STE. MARIE, February 6…Manitoba, skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg, has now assumed top spot in the women’s competition at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors.

Wednesday evening, Manitoba scored a 6-4 decision over British Columbia to improve to 7-1, while Northern Ontario (Ashley Miharija of Thunder Bay) dropped its second straight game, this time to Ontario, 10-4, to fall back into a three-way tie for second with Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Alberta (Maria Bushell of Calgary) came up with three in the 10th end to shock Saskatchewan, 6-5, while Nova Scotia (Danielle Parsons of Halifax) was taking care of business with a 10-6 win over Yukon, scoring a decisive five in the eighth end.  In the other game, New Brunswick (Mary Jane McGuire of Fredericton) improved to 5-3 with a 9-7 victory over Quebec.

Over on the men’s side, Saskatchewan (Brennen Jones of Regina) won a hard-fought battle with Alberta, 10-6 to up its record to 7-1 as well, good enough for sole possession of first place. 

Ontario (Travis Fanset of St. Thomas) and Quebec (William Dion of Drummondville) both kept pace with victories as well to move to 6-2, while Alberta (Aaron Sluchinski of Drayton Valley), British Columbia (Jay Wakefield of New Westminster) and Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown) are a game back at 5-3.

In Draw 12 results, Ontario defeated Northern Ontario, 8-4, while Quebec was a 5-1 winner over New Brunswick.   In other matches, Nova Scotia took two in the 10th end to edge Yukon, 6-5, while Manitoba rebounded after a couple of losses to beat British Columbia, 9-4.

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.

Alberta leads all provinces with 15 junior men’s titles, while Saskatchewan is next with 13.  Saskatchewan has won a leading 10 Canadian junior women’s crowns since the event began in 1971 in Vancouver.  

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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