SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — History wasn’t lost on William Dion as he prepared for the men’s final at the Canadian junior curling championship at the club where his province won its first ever title.
Quebec broke into a 4-1 lead with a three-point third and never looked back en route to a convincing 8-6 win over Ontario on Saturday, giving the province its third national crown, and its first since Michel Ferland in 1992.
"It’s a huge win for curling in Quebec," said Dion, 20, whose team won its eighth straight game and avenged an earlier 7-4 round-robin loss to Ontario.
"Quebec is not known as a powerhouse in curling but we proved (Sunday) we too can play with the best in the country."
In the women’s final, Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes got off to an early lead and held on to defeat Saskatchewan’s Stephanie McVicar 7-6.
Dion and McVicar earned trips to next month’s world junior championships in Sweden, beginning March 1, as Canada’s representatives.
Quebec won its first junior mens final with Denis Marchard’s one-point championship win over Ontario’s John Kawaja in 1980 at Soo Curlers Association.
Twenty-eight years later, it was Ontario again, this time represented by Travis Fanset, standing between Quebec and victory.
"We knew prior to coming here that Sault Ste. Marie was the site of Quebec’s first national junior (men’s) title and that this club was where it was won," said Dion.
The Drummondville entry, including Jean-Michel Arsenault, Erik Lachance and Miguel Bernard had finished atop the 13-team round-robin field with a 10-2 win-loss record. They proved a challenge for Fanset’s youthful entry from St. Thomas Curling Club.
"Giving up three in the third was tough but I didn’t think it was over until the end," said Fanset, 17, who won twice Saturday, defeating Brennan Jones of Regina 7-2 in a third-place tiebreaker and eliminating Brett Gallant of Charlottetown 4-3 in a defensive semifinal.
Ontario, which had finished in a third-place tie with Saskatchewan at 9-3 after round-robin, displayed a never-say-die attitude Friday, rebounding from a 7-0 deficit at the halfway point against Jay Wakefield of British Columbia for an extra end win in the morning, then pulling to within one after trailing 6-1 at the fifth-end break against the Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin, before eventually losing by three, but couldn’t bounce back against Quebec.
"They’re a great team and they didn’t allow us many chances to get back in it after jumping into the early lead," said the Ontario skip.
Dion’s strategy was to take advantage of last rock, "our goal was to limit the damage when we didn’t have hammer and that’s how it played out," said the Drummondville skip, whose team didn’t surrender an opposing deuce until the ninth end.
.Dion and Bernard were teammates on Ghyslain Richard’s entry that finished 9-3 at the 2007 national in St. Catharines, eliminated by Prince Edward Island in the semifinal.
"Experience and age played a difference in the outcome," said Dion.
"Ontario is a younger team at their first national. We had the experience of a year ago to help us through the week so we knew what to expect."
Fanset, chasing Ontario’s first national title since John Morris’s second successful defence in 1999, will have mainly fond memories of his first appearance on the national stage.
"We did a lot better than we thought we would do," said the Ontario skip.
"Hopefully we can use this as a learning experience because we’ve got a couple more years of eligibility."
In the women’s final, Lawes scored three in the second and fourth ends to take a 6-1 lead, but McVicar chipped away and outscored her 4-0 over the next three ends.
Lawes pushed her lead to 7-5 in the eighth end and McVicar responded with only a single point in the final end to take the loss.
"We got the jump but we knew it would be tough to hold; they wouldn’t go down without a fight," said Lawes. "No lead is really safe with the four-rock rule and a never-say-die opponent … All it takes is a couple of misses here and there and they are right back in it."
Manitoba finished with an overall record of 11-2. It’s the eighth women’s title for the province since the championship began in 1971 but first since 1995, when skip Kelly MacKenzie (now Scott) won in Regina.
(Sault Ste Marie Star)