SAULT STE. MARIE, February 9…Saskatchewan, skipped by Stephanie McVicar of Saskatoon, advanced to a second women’s tiebreaker at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors by defeating Alberta, 8-7 in an extra end Saturday morning.

After Alberta (Maria Bushell of Calgary) had opened the scoring with a deuce in the second, Saskatchewan rebounded with its own pair in the third, then stole a deuce in the fourth end for a 4-2 lead.  But Alberta got that deuce back before the break.

The teams then traded deuces, before Saskatchewan took a 7-6 lead after eight.  After a blanked ninth end, Alberta’s Bushell was heavy with her last draw in the 10th end while trying to score two, thus settling for a single but forcing an extra end.  In the 11th, McVicar, facing an Alberta counter, drew the four-foot with her last stone for the win. 

Saskatchewan now faces Northern Ontario (Ashley Miharija of Thunder Bay) in the second tiebreaker (for third place) at 2:00 pm.

The winner of that game plays Nova Scotia (Danielle Parsons of Halifax) in the semi-final at 7:00 pm.     Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg) has already advanced to Sunday’s final after finishing first in the round robin.

Also at 2:00 pm today, on the men’s side, Saskatchewan (Brennen Jones of Regina) meets Ontario (Travis Fanset of St. Thomas) in a tiebreaker for third place.  The winner advances to tonight’s 7:00 pm semi-final against Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown).

First place finisher Quebec (William Dion of Drummondville) awaits the semi-final winner for Sunday’s 1:30 pm final.

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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