Matters claims lone win for P.E.I. at Canadian junior curling championships

Alex Matters and his Charlottetown curling rink recorded the only victory of the day Monday for Island teams at the Canadian junior curling championships in Napanee, Ontario. Matters and his team of Chris Gallant, Kyle Holland, and Andrew Cameron were in bounced back from a narrow last-end loss in the morning to record a hard-fought extra-end decision over British Columbia in the afternoon.  Sarah Fullerton’s Cornwall and Charlottetown Curling Club suffered two losses to drop to 2-3 in the standings. Fullerton, along with Michelle McQuaid, Sara MacRae and Hillary Thompson, lost a heart breaking game in the morning, falling 5-3 to Manitoba on a missed takeout attempt with the final rock. In the afternoon against British Columbia, the team started well, but B.C. took control in the second half for a 9-4 victory. The Matters team also lost in the morning, in another tight contest. In fact, it was a miss and a make that decided the fate of both Island teams in the morning contests. There was the miss by Fullerton, and then a make with last rock by Kyle Doering of Manitoba to walk off with an 8-5 win. In the afternoon contest, Matters and his mates were thrilled to claim an 8-7 decision in an extra-end thriller against B.C. “It’s really exciting to see the results come out from the work we have been doing,” Matters said moments after the victory. “We are getting used to the arena, and hopefully there will be more good games like that.” “We got down early,” he admitted, “but we finally got the curl down and everyone had their draw weight . . . and that made a big difference (in the second half of the game). The team now has a 2-3 mark, still with a chance to get into the playoff chase. “We are really excited to get this second win in,” Matters added. “Hopefully, we can keep working our way up from there. I’m just hoping our team continues to play as well as we are, and however the results turn out, we’ll be happy with that.” After Monday’s games, undefeated Alberta was in first place in the junior men’s competition. The same province was also in first place on the women’s side of the competition, with another 5-0 unblemished record. Fullerton and her team were at 2-3, in the bottom half of the pack. Ironically, a win in the morning would have put them into second place at the time. “We lost a heartbreaker to Manitoba,” Fullerton admitted in a dejected tone. “We controlled the whole game and it just didn’t come out our way. (The last shot) just got on a straight path there and it didn’t curl up enough and that’s just the way the game goes.” “Now we have three losses, so we really have to bounce back,” Fullerton said about getting back into the playoff hunt. “We really can’t afford many more losses. We just have to focus a little more, and we just have to make more shots and play a full ten ends.” The P.E.I. teams are among 13 rinks from across the country on each side of the event hoping to earn the national title and advance to the world junior championships in Sweden, March 3-11.