Saskatchewan men, Alberta women remain unbeaten at M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors

Saskatchewan, skipped by Braeden Moskowy of Regina, and Alberta, skipped by Nadine Chyz of Calgary, are now the only undefeated teams at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors. Chyz moved to 7-0 with an 11-7 victory over Ontario’s Clancy Grandy of Waterloo Monday evening, while her closest pursuer, Saskatchewan’s Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon, suffered her first loss, an extra end 7-6 decision to Manitoba’s Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg, to fall to 5-1. Moskowy, in his first game at the North Hill, after playing his first five games at the Glencoe, managed to escape with a win over Manitoba’s Sam Good of Stonewall. The dramatics came via a steal in an extra end for the 8-7 theft, after forcing the extra with an incredible cross-house double for two in the 10th. The Callie Curling Club team remains alone in first with a 6-0 mark. “They played really well, we played pretty well too,” said a relieved Moskowy. “We caught a couple of breaks, and we kind of just kept hanging around, hanging around. Then we made a Hail Mary in the last one (10th end), a 12-foot extremely flat double. Threw it hard and only had to move it (a Manitoba counter) a centimetre and that’s all we did – a one in a hundred shots.” “(In the extra) we were laying one top four and made him draw full-four for the win, and he was just a little heavy.” On the transition to the North Hill, Moskowy said, “There’s quite a bit more swing here, still a good speed though. But I thought we caught on fairly well.” Last year, Moskowy finished third at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Sorel-Tracy, losing the semi-final, 8-5 to the eventual winner, Ontario’s Jake Walker. But he knows how helpful the whole experience was. “Absolutely, we know what to expect coming in. Last year, we thought we had a good chance, but we didn’t know for sure. This time, we know we can compete with everybody. If we play well, we might have a good shot at winning this thing.” Moskowy has two new players this season – Kirk Muyres at third and Colton Flasch at second, while Matt Lang, who played third for him last year, dropped to lead. “There’s two of us in Regina, two in Saskatoon, so it’s tough to get together. But the more we play together, the more we learn and it’s working out pretty well so far this week.” Behind Saskatchewan at 5-2 are Newfoundland/Labrador (Colin Thomas of St. John’s) and New Brunswick (Jon Rennie of Fredericton). Thomas fell to Prince Edward Island’s Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown, 8-4, while Rennie was a 7-3 winner over British Columbia’s Jonathan Gardner of Vernon. Nova Scotia (Kendal Thompson of Halifax) and Ontario (Mat Camm of Ottawa) are next with 4-2 records after Draw 7 wins. Thompson beat Quebec’s Vincent Bourget of Baie Comeau, 8-5, while Camm clipped Alberta’s Colin Hodgson of Calgary, 6-4. In the other game, Northwest Territories (Colin Miller of Yellowknife) won its second straight, 11-6 over Northern Ontario’s Cody Johnston of Thunder Bay. Idle Yukon (Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse) is at 3-3, followed by Alberta (3-4), Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Northern Ontario, all at 2-4, while Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Manitoba are 2-5. In women’s, behind Alberta and Saskatchewan comes British Columbia (Dailene Sivertson of Victoria) at 4-2, after losing 13-7 to New Brunswick’s Jennifer Armstrong of Fredericton. Manitoba and New Brunswick share fourth with 4-3 records. Yukon (Sarah Koltun of Whitehorse), Ontario and Nova Scotia (Lindsay Doucet of Chester), which edged Quebec (Alanna Routledge of Montreal), 8-7, with a steal in an extra end, are next at 3-3. Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall) is now 3-4 after losing to Newfoundland/Labrador’s Erin Porter of St. John’s, 8-4, followed by Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury) at 2-4, after an 8-5 win over Northwest Territories (Taryn Williams of Yellowknife). Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador are 2-5, with winless Northwest Territories at 0-6. Round robin plays continues through Thursday, with two draws daily at both the Glencoe and North Hill, before any tiebreakers on Friday, and the semi-finals and finals on the weekend.