New Brunswick slides to fourth straight win at junior curling championship

STRATFORD, Ont. – New Brunswick skip Justine Comeau topped Northern Ontario’s Megan Smith 8-5 on Monday for her fourth straight victory at the Canadian junior curling championships.

Comeau is back at her second straight Canadian juniors after being the only skip to beat two-time world junior champ Kelsey Rocque at last year’s event in Corner Brook, N.L.

Comeau, along with Manitoba’s Abby Ackland — who beat Nunavut’s winless Sadie Pinksen — and Alberta’s Selena Sturmay are on top of Pool A with 4-1 records going into the final day of preliminary round play.

The top three teams in each pool, plus two teams with the next best won-lost records, advance to the championship round for a further four-game partial round robin from Wednesday through Friday, with their earlier records carried forward.

Quebec (3-2) is close behind after a 15-4 win over Zoey Walsh of the Northwest Territories (0-4) on Monday night.

In Pool B, Nova Scotia’s Mary Fay leads the way at 5-0, while B.C.’s Sarah Daniels (4-0) also is unbeaten. B.C. cruised to a 13-3 win over Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland and Ontario’s Courtney Auld (3-1) was a 14-4 winner over the Yukon’s Alyssa Meger (0-4). Nova Scotia had the bye Monday night

In men’s play, both pool leaders — Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone (5-0) in Pool A and B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (5-0) were idle Monday night.

In Pool A play, Quebec’s Felix Asselin (3-1) earned an 11-0 win over Nunavut’s Arthur Siksik (0-5), Ontario’s Doug Kee (3-2) put together a 7-3 win over Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Smith (1-3), and Alberta’s Karsten Sturmay (3-2) needed an extra end for a 9-8 win over Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (1-3).

In Pool B, New Brunswick’s Alex Robichaud (3-1) downed Matt Miller of the Northwest Territories (0-5) 12-1, and Saskatchewan’s Jake Hersikorn (3-1) turned back Brayden Klassen of the Yukon (0-4), 8-3.

The six teams of each gender that don’t qualify for the championship round meet in a seeding round to determine ranking for the 2017 Canadian juniors in Victoria.