NAPANEE, Ont. — It was a split decision for Jocelyn Peterman and her Red Deer rink at the Canadian Junior Women’s Curling Championship Wednesday, but they still finished the day in a first-place tie.
The team of Peterman, third Brittany Tran, second Rebecca Konschuh and lead Kristine Anderson lost for the second straight time, 8-7, in the morning against Emily Dwyer of Nova Scotia before rebounding for a 9-4 decision over Roxane Perron of Quebec.
After Wednesday’s action, Peterman, Shannon Birchard of Manitoba and Kesa Van Osch of B.C. had 7-2 records, followed by Dwyer and Jamie Sinclair of Ontario.
“We still have a chance (to make the playoffs),” said Peterman after the victory over Perron.
“We played good (in the loss), but the other skip played just a little better, so we wanted to come out sharper against Quebec”
She said the key to the victory was being able to put their rocks in the right positions throughout the game.
“We played well each end and that made a difference.
“Now, we’re still focusing on coming out strong for the rest of the games, and we’ll see what happens,” she added.
“Right now we’re just focusing on making the playoffs. First place would be a bonus, but making the playoffs is pretty good.”
At the conclusion of the 12-game round robin Friday — after any tiebreakers, if necessary — the first place team advances directly to the championship final, while the second and third place finishers meet in a semifinal. The women’s semi takes place at noon (MST) Saturday, and the final going at 5 p.m.
“I think if we win the rest of the games, we’ll be in the playoffs for sure,” Peterman suggested.
The team has three games left to play, with two today against the 1-8 Taryn Williams rink of Northwest Territories and Sarah Koltun’s 4-4 Yukon squad. The Peterman foursome wraps up the round-robin Friday morning against Jennifer Armstrong and her 5-4 New Brunswick rink.
On the men’s side, Brendan Bottcher and his Alberta team, which includes third Evan Asmussen, who was the men’s skip at RDC last year, is in a first place tie at 8-1, with Kyle Doering of Manitoba. Stuart Thompson of Nova Scotia and Brennan Wark of Northern Ontario are at 6-3.
The junior men’s playoff matches take place on Sunday.