2006 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

What is it?

Source: Canadian Curling Association - 2006 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

While the history of the Canadian junior curling championship doesn’t go as far back as the sport itself - some historians estimate that the sport was created as early as 1565 - it has played an important part in helping hone the skills of some of the nation’s best young curlers.

Young curlers know that the Canadian nationals is just a step in almost guaranteed success on the international stage. Since the men’s world junior curling championship was founded in 1975, Canada has virtually dominated the tournament, claiming 10 titles. The women’s side hasn’t been any different, either. In the 12-year history of the worlds, the Canadian junior women have come home with a total of six crowns.

But it’s a long hard road to the worlds, as every member of the provincial teams will surely attest.

After battling through provincial playdowns, 13 teams earned the right to compete at this year’s national championships.

It will be a hard-fought battle as these teams each play 12 games in order to whittle down the competition and decide who is the best in Canada over the course of the eight-day tournament.

Bill Clark guided Saskatchewan to the first national junior men’s title - then called the Canadian Schoolboy Championship — in 1950 in Quebec City, but it has been the province of Alberta that has held the distinct advantage over the years in the round-robin competition.

Alberta has won the junior men’s title a record 13 times, while Ontario is second on the list with eight championship victories, the last coming just two years ago with John Morris at the helm.

The women’s juniors championship, on the other hand, doesn’t have quite as long history as the men’s side, but it’s a little more colourful.

Believing that there should be a national curling championship for young women, Nellie Hrdlicka campaigned heavily for such an event and finally won her case in 1970.

One year later, the Vancouver Curling Club hosted the inaugural Canadian Girls Curling Championship under the direction of Hrdlicka.

But the first women’s junior championship didn’t go as planned.

Although the Canadian Ladies Curling Association approved the event, it didn’t make any funding available and only one four representatives (British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon and Nova Scotia), could to afford to send a team to the tournament, which was captured by a Calgary team led by Shelby McKenzie.

In 1972, a committee was appointed to structure the championship and under the sponsorship of the CLCA, the women’s junior tournament started to prosper.

Canadian Curling Association - Live Scores and Draw Schedule

You can click the above link and watch your favorite teams and scoring.

All times are Eastern time.
Sheets A-F are at Port Arthur Curling Club and G-L are at Fort William Curling Club
Any tie-breakers and semi-finals are at the Fort William Curling Club.
Championship Finals are at the Port Arthur Curling Club.

Click on any of the matchups to view the scores for that draw. (i.e. If you click on “NS vs MB” on Sheet B for Draw 1, you will view all the scores for Draw 1)