Opening with a bang

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Manitoba’s Travis Bale downed Nova Scotia’s Dom Daemen 6-4 and women’s counterpart Calleen Neufeld defeated Nova Scotia’s Sarah Ryno 8-5.

THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CP) — New Brunswick’s Jeremy Mallais, Ontario’s Codey Maus and Saskatchewan’s Mitch Heidt all won their opening two matches Saturday at the M & M Meat Shops Canadian junior curling championship.

Mallais defeated Quebec’s Martin Crete 8-4 in the first draw before downing Brett Gallant of Prince Edward Island 8-2 eight ends.

Maus opened with a 13-4 victory over Colin Miller Prosko of Northwest Territories, then beat Crete 7-3 in nine ends.

Heidt kept pace, downing Alan Hamilton of Newfoundland and Labrador 6-5 in the first draw before capturing a 9-5 victory over Prosko in eight ends.

In women’s action, Manitoba’s Calleen Neufeld improved to 2-0 to sit atop the overall standings.

The Manitoba rink opened with an 8-5 victory over Sarah Rhyno, then needed one in the final end to dispatch Northern Ontario’s Tracy Horgan 6-5.

Eight rinks are tied for second spot with a win apiece.

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Canadian Curling Association: New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan top men; Manitoba leads women’s at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

Saturday, January 21, 2006
Source: Canadian Curling Association

THUNDER BAY, January 21, 2006…After two draws of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan top the men’s field with 2-0 marks, while Manitoba is alone at 2-0 in the women’s.

New Brunswick, skipped by Jérémy Mallais of Moncton, remained perfect with an 8-2 thrashing of Prince Edward Island (Brett Gallant of Summerside), while Saskatchewan, skipped by Mitch Heidt of Kerrobert, kept pace with a 9-5 victory over Yukon (Trevor Prosko of Whitehorse). So, too, did Ontario, skipped by last year’s runner-up Codey Maus of Mississauga, who handed Quebec (Martin Crête of Boucherville) its second straight loss, 7-3.

At 1-0 are Alberta (Charley Thomas of Grande Prairie), which, after an afternoon bye, captured its opener, 12-1 over Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife) and British Columbia (Ty Griffith of Kelowna).

Other men’s results saw Newfoundland and Labrador (Alan Hamilton of St. John’s) clip Nova Scotia (Dom Daemen of Antigonish), 10-6 while Northern Ontario, skipped by Jeff Sargent of the host Port Arthur Curling Club, evened its record at 1-1 with a 6-2 victory over Manitoba (Travis Bale of Winnipeg).

Thus, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northern Ontario and Prince Edward Island are at 1-1, while Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Yukon are winless at 0-2.

On the women’s side, Manitoba, skipped by Calleen Neufeld of La Salle, nipped Northern Ontario (Tracy Horgan of Sudbury), 6-5 to stay unbeaten. However, three others are at 1-0…Alberta (Megan Kirk of Lethbridge), which played its first game Saturday night, demolishing Northwest Territories (Kate Jefferson of Yellowknife), 11-3 after eight ends, Ontario (Lisa Farnell of Peterborough), which also debuted in Draw 2 with a 7-6 win over Quebec (Sophie Morissette of Sillery), taking a deuce in the 10th end, and Saskatchewan (Mandy Selzer of Balgonie).

In other scores from the evening draw, Nova Scotia (Sarah Rhyno of Sackville) edged Newfoundland and Labrador (Stacie Devereaux of St. John’s), 6-5 in an extra end while New Brunswick (Mary Jane McGuire of Woodstock) also went to an extra in a wild one, defeating Prince Edward Island (Meaghan Hughes of Charlottetown), 10-9.

The results left five teams tied at 1-1… New Brunswick, Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia and Quebec, with British Columbia (Kirsten Fox) at 0-1 and Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island at 0-2.

Round robin games are taking place at both the Fort William and Port Arthur Curling Clubs. At the conclusion of the round robin, the first place teams advance to their respective finals at the Port Arthur, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals at the Fort William. CBC-TV will televise the women’s final on Saturday, January 28 at 12 noon ET, while the men’s final starts at 12:30 pm on Sunday, January 29.

The winning teams will then represent Canada at the world juniors, March 11-19 in Jeonju, Korea.

In addition to CBC-TV’s live coverage of the two finals next weekend, Edmonton-based webcaster CurlTV is showing one game per draw from the Fort William Curling Club throughout the round robin, along with both semi-finals, to its subscribers. Sunday’s tentative schedule is Newfoundland and Labrador vs Northern Ontario in men’s at 9:00 am, Alberta vs PEI in women’s at 2:00 pm and New Brunswick vs Nova Scotia in women’s at 7:00 pm. For further information, visit www.curltv.com.

The round robin continues with three draws on Sunday at 9:00 am, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm, then two draws daily from Monday through Thursday, beginning at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm ET.