NAPANEE, ONT. — P.E.I.’s Sarah Fullerton had tears in her eyes after an afternoon loss, but sent a strong message to the other teams with a blowout win in the evening at the Canadian junior curling championships.
Fullerton and her Cornwall-Charlottetown team of Michelle McQuaid, Sara Mac , and Hillary Thompson dropped to five losses in the 7-5 afternoon loss to Northern Ontario.
Combined with the evening victory, the team’s record is 4-5 with three game left in the 12-game round robin, behind seven other teams.
Only the top three make the playoffs, but tiebreakers can make that number higher.
“We definitely need some help at this point (to make playoffs), but, you know what, we have that Island crest on our backs and we’re just going to play every game representing our province,” Fullerton stated as she wiped away a tear. “It really means a lot to have that patch on our back.”
“We didn’t want to put any added pressure on ourselves this year because it was our last crack at the championship, but it hurts a little that we are going to need a lot of help from other teams. Right now, it really doesn’t look like playoffs are in our favour, but we’re just going to play every game as strong as we did at the first of the week.
“We’re going to try to come out with a winning record for our province. We just want to play every game as best as we can.
“I’m really proud of the girls. We’ve had a really good season together and the way we battled back today shows we are a strong team.”
“We got down early, and the score could have been way worse,” Fullerton said about the loss earlier in the day, which all but ended their playoff aspirations. “We tried to fight back and we made her throw her last rock and she made it, so . . .
“We knew it was basically do or die for a playoff berth, so we just had to find something inside of us that kept us going to make a comeback, and we did, so it hurts to lose when it was so close.
“We gotta be proud of ourselves for clawing back like that.”
After that loss, Fullerton struggled to remain composed, knowing a playoff spot will require a small miracle.
But she said the team would come out firing the rest of tournament in an attempt to secure a winning record — and to wear the P.E.I. patch on their backs with pride.
And they did just that with a 12-5 decision over Saskatchewan.
Before the win, she said, “We are going to go out there and do our best. It would be a good win for us and we’re going to try and end this (week) with a winning record.”
Fullerton also said the win would be a boost for the three remaining games.
Alex Matters and his Charlottetown team of Chris Gallant, Kyle Holland, and Andrew Cameron won the evening contest 6-5 over Saskatchewan.
Earlier in the day the team lost to Northern Ontario. The PEI squad is now at 3-6.
After Wednesday’s games, Manitoba, Alberta, and B.C. had 7-2 records, followed by Nova Scotia and Ontario in junior women’s play.
On the men’s side of the event, Alberta was in a first place tie, at 8-1, with Manitoba. Nova Scotia and Northern Ontario were next at 6-3.
At the conclusion of the 12-game round robin Friday — after any tiebreakers, if necessary — the first place teams advance to their respective finals, while the second and third place finishers meet in semifinals.
Both the women’s and men’s finals will be televised on TSN with the women’s final on Saturday and the men’s final on Sunday.
Both games are at 8 p.m. AT.
