SAULT STE. MARIE, February 7….With one day to go in the round robin at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, Ontario and Quebec are perched atop the men’s leaderboard, while Manitoba continues to lead the way in the women’s championship.

Thursday evening, Ontario, skipped by Travis Fanset of St. Thomas, climbed into a tie with idle Quebec (William Dion of Drummondville) by clipping Alberta, 7-5, stealing singles in the ninth and 10th ends for the win.

Ontario and Quebec now boast 8-2 marks.  Ontario plays British Columbia (5-5) and Yukon (2-8) on Friday, while Quebec meets Alberta (6-4) and Yukon.

Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan are a game behind with 7-3 records.
Skipped by last year’s runner-up Brett Gallant of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island got by Yukon, 6-2, while Saskatchewan (Brennen Jones of Regina) was dropped by Northern Ontario (5-5), 11-7, its second loss of the day.

In other Draw 15 games, Newfoundland and Labrador (5-5) defeated British Columbia (5-5), 7-4, while Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife) won its first game of the week, an 8-7 squeaker over Manitoba (5-5)

In women’s, Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg) continues to lead the way with a 9-1 mark, after dismantling Northwest Territories, 10-2.  Second place Nova Scotia (Danielle Parsons of Halifax) had an evening bye to remain at 8-2, while Alberta, New Brunswick and Northern Ontario are deadlocked in third with 7-3 records.

Manitoba finishes up with Northern Ontario and Alberta, while Nova Scotia faces Northwest Territories (1-9) and Northern Ontario.

Alberta (Maria Bushell of Calgary) pulled one out of the fire, stealing one in the 10th end to defeat Ontario, while Northern Ontario (Ashley Miharija of Thunder Bay) got back on the winning track after dropping three straight by edging Saskatchewan (6-4), 4-3.   In other matches, Prince Edward Island (3-7) beat winless Yukon, 9-6 and Newfoundland and Labrador (4-6) was a 9-4 winner over British Columbia (4-6).   New Brunswick had a bye.

Round robin play concludes at both Soo Curlers Association and Tarentorus Sports Club on Friday with three draws, 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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