3 of 4 final berths determined in provincial junior curling championships

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/12/2011 (5367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three of the final four berths into next week’s provincial junior curling championships were determined Friday morning, with just one more berth still to be decided in a four-team playoff later today at the Tim Hortons Christmas Bonspiel.

On the junior men’s side, Tanner Lott of Winnipeg Beach and Derek Harrison of Charleswood both punched their tickets to next week’s Manitoba Junior Men’s Provincial Championship at West Kildonan Curling Club without even playing a game.

Lott and Harrison automatically earned their berths when Assiniboine-Memorial’s Kyle Thiessen and Elmowood’s Tyler Luner were eliminated in their C-side games Friday morning. Luner and/or Thiessen could have forced a playoff with Lott and Harrison to determine the provincials berths if either had won this morning.

On the junior women’s side, Jackie Hebert of St. Vital earned her berth late Thursday night into next week’s Manitoba Junior Womens Provincial Championship in Minnedosa with a victory over Pembina’s Christine MacKay.

MacKay gets a second chance later today as part of a four-team playoff for the final junior women’s berth with Pembina’s Brooklyn Meiklejohn, Assninboine’s Sara Oliver and Stonewall’s Rebecca Lamb.

Oliver will play MacKay, while Meiklejohn will play Lamb, beginning at 4 p.m. at Fort Garry. The winners will then play for the berth at 7:30 p.m..

Meiklejohn could have won the berth outright with a victory in her C-side game Friday morning, but she lost 9-3 to Miami’s Carly Angers to force the playoff.

Oliver’s team was not included in what was originally a three-team playoff, but her team successfully argued this afternoon to Curl Manitoba officials that they had been unfairly overlooked.

The A-side finals of the Christmas Bonspiel, which determine the overall Bonspiel champion, take place at 12:30 p.m. today, also at Fort Garry.

On the junior men’s side, Pembina’s Daniel Birchard plays Lott, who has a chance to win a Bonspiel championship alongside the berth he has already won this morning.

On the junior women’s side, Assiniboine’s Katie Spencer plays Victoria’s Beth Peterson.

Finally, in the final of the youth 14-and-under event, Assiniboine’s Colin Kurz plays Charleswood’s Zachary Lewco. That game will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Fort Garry.