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Alberta only undefeated team in the tournament

Jan 24, 2019 | 4:36 PM

As of Thursday afternoon, Alberta’s women’s team remain the only undefeated rink at 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships in Prince Albert. 

The Edmonton-based team of Selena Sturmay, Abby Marks, Kate Goodhelpsen and Paige Papley has won all eight games they’ve played for a perfect 8-0 record. They remain the last undefeated team remaining, on both the women’s or men’s sides.

Alberta beat Team Manitoba 6-3 on Thursday afternoon at the Art Hauser Centre to improve to 8-0.

“Me and my team have been feeling it pretty good since the start. You can never have too much confidence. We’re just looking to grind out more wins and take it one game at a time.”

They still have to play Justine Comeau and New Brunswick (4-4) Thursday night at 7 p.m. and Saskatchewan’s Sara England on Friday at 9 a.m.

“I think the great ice conditions [help] and we’ve trained pretty hard up until this point,” Sturmay said. “All we can really ask for is good ice conditions which we have. We’ve been working really well as a team and knowing our tolerances, so I think that’s helped huge.”

Rylan Kleiter and the Saskatchewan men’s team are going to be in the playoffs no matter what. They improved to an 8-1 record after defeating Nova Scotia 12-2. Regardless of what any other team does, Saskatchewan will be in the top three and eligible at the very least for the semifinals matchup.

Kleiter and company are also in the hunt for the top spot, and are currently tied with Tyler Tardi and B.C. for first place. The top team earns a bye into the finals, while the second and third placed teams advance to the playoffs.

Sara England and Team Saskatchewan will have a more difficult road to the top three with a 5-4 record. They had a hard battle with B.C., eventually falling 9-7. England and Saskatchewan scored two in the ninth to tie it up, but Sara Daniels and B.C. scored two themselves in the 10th to win.

 

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW