Newfoundland Junior Champions
December 31, 2009
- Article by Brad Norman
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Across Canada, junior curlers are battling for the right to represent their province at the 2010 Canadian Juniors. The Newfoundland squad has been decided, as Jen Cunningham's team won the provincial title 7-5 over rival Julie Devereaux.
These two teams have been a tight match up all season and were both considered favorites during the junior provincial playdowns. Deveraux appeared at the national championships as a part of Team Newfoundland in the past, including the 2007 team which won the nationals and ultimately won silver at the world championships.
Cunningham started this championship game with the hammer, earned by winning a game over Deveraux the night before. After playing the end fairly cleanly, they failed the blank attempt, sticking their last shot and taking a single point.
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Devereaux also had trouble posting multiple points early in the game. After blanking the second end, they were held to a single point in the third, evening up the game 1-1.
The game cracked open in the fourth end. Cunningham pulled off an impressive double take-out to score three points. But the lead was short lived, as the Deveraux squad rallied back with a three pointer of their own in the sixth, capitalizing on a flashed take-out attempt by Cunningham.
Cunningham regained the lead with a draw for two point in the eighth end. Despite Devereaux's best efforts, they couldn't erase the lead. Needing to steal a point in the tenth to force an extra end, Devereaux came up light on her final draw, handing the 7-5 victory to Cunningham, crowning them Newfoundland's 2010 provincial junior champions.
Cunningham's team—consisting of Tara O'Brien (third), Jessica Cunningham (second) and Cheryl Norman (lead)—will head to Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, to face the rest of Canada. To date, the other provincial representatives that have been selected are Manitoba's Breanne Meakin, New Brunswick's Jessica Daigle, Northern Ontario's Kendra Lilly, Northwest Territories' Amanda Moizis, PEI's Sarah Fullerton, and Yukon's Sarah Koltun. The remaining teams will be selected in the coming weeks.
Follow the Canadian Junior Championships here on Curling Scoops from January 16 - 24, 2010.
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