Music: {allcanada} NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR TOPS ALBERTA IN JUNIOR CURLING

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

{allcanada} NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR TOPS ALBERTA IN JUNIOR CURLING

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. -- Newfoundland and Labrador's Carolyn Suley defeated Alberta's Karynn Flory 9-5 on Tuesday at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior curling championships.

With the victory, the St. John's skip improved to 3-3 and is assured of at least a tiebreaker appearance to move into the championship round robin. The top four teams from each of the seven-team women's and men's pools will advance.

"We had a couple rough games early, we weren't getting the shots we wanted to make," said Suley. "But today, we knew it was a must-win and we said, 'We have to take them on. They're Alberta, they're the big name, but we're Newfoundland, we can take them.'

"We went out there to play, we went out there to win."

In other early action, Quebec's Sarah Dumais edged Northern Ontario's Tirzah Keffer 6-5 and Nova Scotia's Mary Myketyn-Driscoll defeated Prince Edward Island's Veronica Smith 9-4.

Manitoba's Shannon Birchard posted an 8-3 win over the Northwest Territories' Carina McKay-Saturnino and Corryn Brown of B.C. crushed Nunavut's Sadie Pinksen 24-1.

In men's play, Nova Scotia's Stuart Thompson got by Quebec's Felix Asselin 5-3 and Saskatchewan's Brady Scharback beat Yukon's Will Mahoney 7-3. Newfoundland and Labrador's Adam Boland defeated Daniel Murray of the Northwest Territories 8-3 and Alberta's Thomas Scoffin doubled Prince Edward Island's Tyler Smith 8-4.

Play continues later Tuesday.

The championship round-robin concludes Friday. The first-place teams will move into the final while the second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals.