SALMON ARM, BC, February 1...Three women's teams and four men's teams are undefeated with 2-0 marks, after Day 1 of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, taking place at the Sunwave Centre and Salmon Arm Curling Club.

Alberta (Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge), New Brunswick (Ashley Howard of Moncton) and Saskatchewan (Brooklyn Lemon of Regina) sit atop the women's leaderboard.

In Draw 3 action Sunday evening, Howard, the daughter of Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion Russ Howard, took two in the 10th   end to defeat Ontario's highly-regarded Rachel Homan of Ottawa, 7-6.   Scheidegger eked out a 6-4 win over British Columbia's Kelly Shimizu of Richmond, while Lemon had an evening bye.

In other games, Quebec's Kristen Richard of Lachine nipped defending Canadian champion Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg, Manitoba, 6-5; Newfoundland and Labrador (Erin Porter of St. John's) counted four in the 10th end to beat Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 10-7 while Nova Scotia (Marie Christianson of Halifax) proved a 9-4 winner over Northwest Territories (Kate Maksymowich of Yellowknife).

Behind the three leaders are Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northern Ontario (Vanessa Maloney of Sudbury), Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island (Erin Carmody of Summerside) and Quebec, all at 1-1.   British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Yukon are 0-2.

On the men's side, Alberta, New Brunswick, Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan are deadlocked at 2-0 after three draws.  Sunday evening, Alberta (Kevin Yablonski of Calgary) blasted British Columbia (Bryan Kedziora of Maple Ridge), 8-1 and New Brunswick (Steve Burgess of Fredericton) was a 7-4 winner over Ontario (Bowie Abbis-Mills of Waterloo).

Northern Ontario (Dylan Johnston of Thunder Bay) and Saskatchewan (Mike Armstrong of Saskatoon) had byes tonight after winning their first two games.

In other contests, Quebec (Andrew Leigh of Lachine) battered Manitoba (Sam Good of Winnipeg), 10-3; Nova Scotia (Paul Dexter of St. Andrews) clipped Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 8-3 while Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John's) beat Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse), 6-4.

The results left five teams at 1-1:  Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown) and Quebec.

Four teams are winless at 0-2:  British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Ontario and Yukon.

Round robin play continues on Monday through Friday, with draws at 9:00 am, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm Pacific time, after which the first place teams advance to their respective finals next Sunday, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals on Saturday.

TSN will carry the women's final live on February 8 at 11:30 am PT/ 2:30 pm ET, followed by the men's final at 4:00 pm PT/7:00 pm ET.

The winners of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors will then represent Canada at the world juniors, March 5-15 at the Olympic Centre in Vancouver.  Canada has won a leading 16 world junior men's titles since 1975 and eight women's crowns since 1988.

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