Unbeknownst to many in Canada, the 2008 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships wrapped up yesterday afternoon in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. The week long event began on February 2 with 13 mens teams and 13 womens teams competing for top spot and a chance to represent Canada in Sweden at the World Junior Championships in March.
On the women's side, the team from Manitoba, lead by Kaitlyn Lawes, beat Team Saskatchewan, skipped by Stephanie McVicar, 7-6 in the final to earn the title of Canadian Junior Champions. Team Manitoba advanced straight to the finals after posting a 10-2 record in the round robin while the Saskatchewan team finished the round robin at 8-4 and were forced to play two tie-breaker games and a semi-final game for the right to play Manitoba in the finals. Team Saskatchewan defeated Team Alberta 8-7 and Team Northern Ontario 6-5 in the tie-breakers and beat Nova Scotia 8-7 to earn their hard-fought berth in the finals.
On the men's side, Team Quebec, lead by William Dion, held on to defeat Team Onatrio, lead by Travis Fanset, 8-6 to earn the Canadian Junior title. Similar to the women's side, Team Quebec posted a 10-2 round robin record to get the bye into the finals while the team from Ontario needed to get through a tie-breaker game and the semi-final game to earn their spot in the finals. In the tie-breaker, Team Ontario easily defeated Team Saskatchewan 7-2 before ending Team PEI's hopes in the semi-final in a tight 4-3 match.
While the Junior's were playing in Sault Ste Marie, the 2008 TSC Tankard (Ontario men's provincial championship) was being held in Waterloo. Thanks to Rogers Television, Ontarians were able to watch this tournament unfold. The World number 1 ranked Glenn Howard team was poised to duplicate last year's result by going unbeaten in the tournament until they met Mike Harris' team in their last round robin game. After the loss to Mike Harris' team, the Howard rink lost the 1-2 page playoff game to the second seed team skipped by Peter Corner (8-2) and were forced to play in the semi-final game.
The second half of the semi-final matchup was not so clear cut. Two tie-breaker games were needed to decide the fourth place team before the 3-4 page playoff game could take place. In a rare midnight draw, Wayne Tuck's team defeated the team skipped by Wayne Middaugh 9-4 before losing the second tie-breaker game to Rob Lobel 9-8 in an extra end. With that win, Rob Lobel lived to play one more game but unfortunately for his team, one more game is all they played as they lost the 3-4 page playoff game to Mike Harris 8-7.
The semi-final was set and looked to be a good one until the game began. Glenn Howard opened the first end with a three spot then after two blanked ends, they stole their fourth point in the fourth. The fifth end saw Team Harris get on the board with a single but after the break Team Howard scored two more to put the game away. The game ended in a 7-2 score. Glenn's domination continued into the final match as they scored four points in the opening end against Peter Corner en route to a 9-4 victory. This win marked the third consecutive provincial win for Howard's team. They will now play for the National title in the Tim Horton's Brier in early March.
Up next for the Season of Champions: the Scotties Tournament of Hearts beginning Saturday.
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