The Chronicle Herald
Published: January 14, 2018 – 8:16pm
Matthew Manuel got back on track at the Canadian junior curling championships in Shawinigan, Que.
The Nova Scotia men’s champion bounced back from a tournament-opening loss on Saturday with a pair of wins Sunday, including a victory over the two-time defending national champ.
Manuel and his rink of lead Alec Cameron, second Nick Zachernuk and third Adam Cocks out of Mayflower defeated Tyler Tardi of B.C., 5-2 Sunday morning and dropped Joe Wallingham of Yukon 7-4 in the afternoon draw.
Nova Scotia scored two in the third end and another deuce in the seventh against Tardi, the 2016 and ’17 winner at this event. Against Yukon, Manuel put up three in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to pull ahead.
In the team’s opener Saturday, Manitoba scored three in the third end, stole another in the fourth and added two in the sixth for a 7-2 decision over Nova Scotia.
Manuel will face New Brunswick and Quebec on Monday.
• Kaitlyn Jones and her Nova Scotia junior women’s curling team were in action later Sunday evening.
Jones and her rink of third Kristin Clarke, second Karlee Burgess and lead Lindsey Burgess split their first two games on Saturday.
The Bluenose team (1-1) blasted Yukon 13-3 in their opener but fell 12-2 to Quebec in the evening draw.
Jones, who skipped Saskatchewan to a 5-5 finish at last year’s juniors and moved to Halifax last summer, faced Saskatchewan’s Sara England on Sunday night. England, who took over from Jones as that province’s skip, is the daughter of the late curling legend, Sandra Schmirler.
Nova Scotia has one game on Monday, in the afternoon draw against New Brunswick.
Fourteen men’s and 14 women’s teams are in the Canadian junior field.
The winning teams will represent Canada in the 2018 world junior championships, March 3-11 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
