Three draws are complete after opening-day play and the A section winners have been determined at the Pepsi provincial junior curling championships at the Crapaud Community Curling Club.
Four junior women’s teams – all from the Cornwall Curling Club – and three junior men’s teams are competing to represent P.E.I. at the 2020 New Holland Canadian junior championships in Langley, B.C., from Jan. 18 to 26.
Defending-champion skips Lauren Ferguson from the Cornwall Curling Club (all four junior women’s rinks are from that club) and Tyler Smith from the Montague Curling rink captured the A finals of the modified triple-knockout draw Friday afternoon.
Ferguson, trailing 4-3 after five ends of play against clubmate Clara Jack 9-5, came on strong in the second half, with a four-point sixth end and a stolen single in the seventh. After exchanging singles in the next two ends, Jack ran out of rocks in the final frame. The final score was 9-5 for Ferguson.
On the junior men’s side, in a game that saw no more than two points scored in an end, Smith had a 4-2 lead after 5 ends and kept the Brayden Snow team from the Silver Fox and Charlottetown clubs to a single in six before taking control in the next three ends with a deuce, a stolen single, and a steal of two points to bring the game to handshakes with a 9-3 score after nine ends.
B semifinals
Team Ferguson punched its ticket to Saturday’s 10 a.m. final with a 7-3 win in the evening draw over the Katie Shaw rink, which includes three members of Ferguson’s team from last year.
Ferguson held a slim one-point lead after eight ends, but a triple steal in the ninth gave her the win. She’ll be taking on Rachel MacLean in the B final.
Team MacLean scored a trio of triples in their match against the Clara Jack foursome for a 12-3 victory in eight ends.
On the junior men’s side, Cornwall’s Mitchell Schut squad was firing on all cylinders in Draw 3 against Team Snow, winning 13-2 in seven ends, and are hoping to avenge their 8-1 opening-game loss to Team Smith in the B final on Saturday at 10 a.m.
The junior women’s C semifinals, which will be played Saturday at 3 p.m., will see Jack take on Ferguson, and Shaw plays MacLean. The winners will advance to the C final Sunday at 9 a.m.
In junior men’s play, the loser of Saturday’s B final takes on Snow in the C semifinal at 3 p.m. The winner of that game will play Smith in the C final Sunday at 9 a.m.
The championship round, which won't be necessary if a team wins all three modified triple-knockout sections, goes Sunday at 2 p.m., and, if necessary, 7 p.m.
