NAPANEE, ONT. — It was too little too late for playoffs, but the Sarah Fullerton rink is on a three-game winning streak after two more victories Thursday at the Canadian junior curling championships.
The Cornwall-Charlottetown team of Fullerton, Michelle McQuaid, Sara MacRae and Hillary Thompson improved to 6-5 Thursday with a 6-4 victory over Nova Scotia and a 7-5 decision against New Brunswick.
The top three teams will make the playoffs, but the Fullerton foursome is behind four teams and can’t catch the leaders with only one game left to play today in the round robin.
“We were really focussed today, and our goal was to leave this tournament with a winning record,” said Fullerton. “We don’t want it to be our worst nationals, and we are really shooting for every victory we can get.
“Six wins is great. We’d love a seventh, and I think the girls will come out strong (today) and have a great game. Getting that seventh would probably mean fourth or fifth place, and that would be really good.”
Fullerton is also pleased her team won all of its games against other Atlantic teams, believing it gives them bragging rights in Atlantic Canada.
“I’m really proud of the girls, they are playing really well and they are stepping it up when we have to,” she said. “Today I saw them step up big time. Everyone is playing well, we just struggled a little bit with the ice at the beginning of the week and we had some real close games,” she pointed out. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. We played our best and that’s all we could ask for.”
On the men’s side of the competition, Alex Matters and his Charlottetown team of Chris Gallant, Kyle Holland and Andrew Cameron fell to 3-8, after losing 10-2 to New Brunswick and 8-6 to Nova Scotia.
“We just want to go out and finish strong,” he said of today’s last round robin game. “Whether we win or lose, we just want to play our best. We’ll want to get one more (win), of course, so we’ll come out and give it our all and see what happens.
“It’s been a great time, a lot of ups and down but overall it’s been good experience. I’m just excited we got to come.
“Overall, it’s been a great experience. It’s new to us, we’ve never been at a national event before,” he said. “It’s been a challenge, and we’ve played pretty well all week. I’m happy with how we have done, and hopefully if we get to come back another year, we will take what we’ve learned and be able to make a run at playoffs.”
After Thursday’s games, Manitoba and Alberta, had clinched the top two places, currently tied at 9-2. British Columbia, now at 8-3, will finish third. On the men’s side of the event, Alberta was in first at 10-1, followed by Manitoba in second, with Northern Ontario and Nova Scotia tied for third.
