Prince Edward Island wins only its second Junior men's crown since 1950
SALMON ARM, BC, February 8...Prince Edward Island, skipped by Brett Gallant of Charlottetown, won the men's final of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors Sunday at the Sunwave Centre, edging Northern Ontario, 7-6.
It's only the second Canadian junior men's title for Prince Edward Island since the championship began in 1950. Skip Bill Jenkins won the first title 33 years ago, in 1976 in Kapuskasing.
In a game which featured a myriad of good shots, it all came down to the 10th end, when Gallant, already laying one with hammer but needing a pair, drew to the full-eight for the win, after Northern Ontario skip Dylan Johnston of Thunder Bay came up a tad light with a draw. However, he was still second shot with another in the eight-foot, forcing Gallant to draw.
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| CCA/Michael Burns Photography |
The game didn't start off in the Islanders favour, though, after Northern Ontario jumped into a 3-0 lead in the first end. However, by the sixth end, the game was knotted at 5. After a blanked seventh, Johnston was forced to one in the eighth. Gallant then blanked the ninth before the 10th end dramatics which culminated with the winning deuce.
Gallant, who was the 2007 Canadian Juniors runner-up in St. Catharines, losing in an extra end to Alberta's Charley Thomas, and third place finisher last year in Sault Ste. Marie, celebrated his first Canadian title, as did third Adam Casey, second Anson Carmody and lead Jamie Danbrook.
Now, Gallant and his Charlottetown Curling Club team will represent Canada at the 2009 world junior curling championships, March 5-15 at the Olympic Centre in Vancouver, also the site of the curling competition at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Canada has won a leading 16 world junior men's titles since 1975.
"Finally," said the elated 18-year-old Gallant, a Business student at the University of Prince Edward Island, of his first win in his fifth trip to the Canadian championship. "We played a great game. We were very prepared for this game. After we gave up the three in the first, it was really unlucky, a picked rock and a jam. But then we had some good ends after that. The team played awesome. Dylan's team played very well, too. I was just glad we got a few chances. We just had to keep the pressure on them. We played very well."
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| CCA/Michael Burns Photography |
Northern Ontario and Prince Edward Island had finished tied for first place with 9-3 marks, but Northern Ontario earned the bye to the final for its round robin win, 9-8 in an extra end. It was a game in which Northern Ontario stole four singles, including one in the extra, for the victory, after Prince Edward Island, ironically, got off to a 3-0 start.
"They just kept battling back,' said the 19-year-old Johnston, an ice technician at the Fort William Curling Club. "We had some key misses which let them get their two's. But both sides were shooting good. We thought my last rock was good but it went bad at the end. When you get off to an early lead, it's kind of hard to keep it. Everyone knows that. They had lots of time to battle back. But we were underdogs all year."
The final stats gave a slight edge to Prince Edward Island. Gallant shot 79% to Johnston's 76% while PEI also held an 83%-77% margin in team totals.
Earlier in the day, Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes successfully defended her title by winning the M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior women's final and will also represent Canada at the world juniors, seeking a leading ninth title since 1988.
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