SALMON ARM, BC, February 2...It's early, but so far, so good, for the four still-undefeated teams at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, taking place at the Sunwave Centre and Salmon Arm Curling Club.

Among the three unbeaten men's teams is Alberta, skipped by 19-year-old Kevin Yablonski of Calgary.  The Albertans have defeated Quebec, 8-3, British Columbia, 8-1 and on Monday morning dispatched Ontario, 11-4.  

After opening with a pair, Alberta stole deuces in the second and third ends for a 6-0 lead, gave up three in the fourth, but rebounded with a 'dagger' four-spot in the fifth end for a commanding 10-3 margin at the break.

So, things are definitely going quite well for the Calgary Winter Club foursome, trying to carry on a rich tradition of successful Alberta junior men's teams, which have won a leading 15 Canadian titles since 1950.    "Yes, they are," said Yablonski.   "Honestly, yesterday's game (against British Columbia) was one of the best games I've ever played (a sizzling 95%).  The whole team was playing great. 

"Today was a great day as well. Everyone was shooting well.   We just put pressure on them every end.

"He (Ontario skip Bowie Abbis-Mills) had some really difficult shots.  We didn't leave him much  (when stealing deuces in the second and third ends).  When they took their three (in the fourth), we wanted to come back with two or three, but four was even better.

"We know that every team is going to be difficult but if we bring our A game, we can definitely come out on top.   We hope to be up there after 12 games."

Joining Alberta at 3-0 is Northern Ontario, skipped by Dylan Johnston of Thunder Bay, who kept pace with a 5-3 victory over Quebec (Andrew Leigh of Lachine), while right behind, with a game in hand, is New Brunswick (Steve Burgess of Fredericton) at 2-0.

In other men's Draw 4 games, Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Charlottetown) moved to 2-1 with an 8-4 victory of Manitoba (Sam Good of Winnipeg) while, in what would be considered a bit of a shocker, Yukon, skipped by 14-year-old Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse, won its first by handing previously-unbeaten Saskatchewan (Mike Armstrong of Saskatoon) a 5-4 defeat.

On the women's side, the only perfect team is New Brunswick (Ashley Howard of Moncton), with a 2-0 mark after a morning bye.   Five teams are now at 2-1:  defending Canadian champion Manitoba (Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg), who defeated Prince Edward Island (Erin Carmody of Summerside), 11-2; Ontario (Rachel Homan of Ottawa), who dropped Alberta (Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge) from the unbeaten ranks with a tight 5-4 decision; Quebec (Kristen Richard of Lachine), a 7-6 winner over Northern Ontario (Vanessa Maloney of Sudbury) and Saskatchewan (Brooklyn Lemon of Regina), who suffered the same fate as her male counterparts, losing to the Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), 7-6 in another shocker.

Round robin play continues on Monday with draws at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm PT.

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