Day One in the books at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

After the first day of competition at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Calgary, seven teams are a perfect 2-0, including both the men’s and women’s teams from host Alberta. But nobody could be happier with their start than the Prince Edward Island women’s team, skipped by Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall. After all, their arrival from ‘the Island’ was more than a little delayed. When a snowstorm prevented them from leaving Charlottetown on Thursday, the team drove six hours to Halifax, boarded a plane and eventually made it to Calgary. “We had a rough time getting here,” said Fullerton, a 19-year-old Science student at the University of Prince Edward Island. “It took us 20 hours to get here. We travelled all night. We were pretty exhausted yesterday, but we did get some rest. Having a 2-0 record our first day after going through all that, we’re pretty proud of it. It was a great day.” Saturday evening, Fullerton’s squad pulled one out of the fire against Quebec’s Alanna Routledge of Montreal, taking three in the 10th end for an 8-7 win. This, after beating New Brunswick, 8-5 in the opening draw. “We had kind of an unfortunate ninth end, giving up a steal of two,” said Fullerton, of the nightcap comeback. “But our whole attitude going into this week is to stay positive. So we didn’t let it bother us, we just came out firing in the 10th end and it worked out for us.” Fullerton debuted last year in the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, finishing with a respectable 6-6 record in Sorel-Tracy. “We did pretty good for our first year,” she continued. “Our goal this year was to at least get back to that same position. So we wanted to come back and prove we can get back into a better position this year. So far we’re doing pretty good.” PEI joins Alberta, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, all at 2-0. Alberta, skipped by Nadine Chyz of Calgary, whipped Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg), 11-2; Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon) beat Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury), 7-4 and Nova Scotia (Lindsay Doucet of Chester) was an 11-6 winner over Northwest Territories (Taryn Williams of Yellowknife). In other women’s games, New Brunswick (Jennifer Armstrong of Fredericton) beat Newfoundland/Labrador (Erin Porter of St. John’s), 10-5 while Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), upset last year’s runner-up, British Columbia’s Dailene Sivertson of Victoria, 12-5. On the men’s side, three teams are perfect at 2-0. Newfoundland/Labrador (Colin Thomas of St. John’s), after defeating New Brunswick (Jon Rennie of Fredericton), 8-2; Saskatchewan (Braeden Moskowy of Regina), after clipping Northern Ontario (Cody Johnston of Thunder Bay), 6-2 and Alberta, skipped by Colin Hodgson of Calgary, who stole a deuce in an extra end to shock Manitoba (Sam Good of Stonewall), 6-4. In other games, Prince Edward Island (Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown) was an 11-5 victor over Quebec (Vincent Bourget of Baie Comeau); Nova Scotia (Kendal Thompson of Halifax) beat Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife), 11-4 and Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse) defeated British Columbia (Jonathan Gardner of Vernon), 5-2. Round robin play continues with three draws on Sunday at the Glencoe and North Hill Curling Clubs, followed by two draws daily from Monday through Thursday. The first place teams will then advance to their respective finals, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals. The women’s semi-final is Saturday morning at 10:30 am, with the final at 5:30 pm MT, live on TSN. The men’s semi-final is Sunday morning at 10:30 am, with the final also at 5:30 pm MT/7:30 pm ET, also live on TSN. -30-