SAULT STE. MARIE, February 10…Quebec, skipped by William Dion of Drummondville, proved full value for its first place finish, winning its eighth straight game by defeating Ontario, 8-6 in the men’s final of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors.

The foursome of Dion, third Jean-Michel Arsenault, second Erik Lachance and lead Miguel Bernard never looked back after the second end, once the teams had traded singles.

A draw for three by Dion in the third made it 4-1, setting the stage for the province’s third Canadian junior men’s title.  Ontario’s Travis Fanset of St. Thomas was forced to play catch-up the rest of the way and it proved too difficult a challenge.

Who says history doesn’t repeat?   It was in 1980 here in Sault Ste. Marie that Quebec won its first junior men’s title when Denis Marchand beat Ontario’s John Kawaja, 6-5.

Today, Quebec vanquished Ontario again, taking its third crown since the championship began in 1950.  In addition to Marchand, Quebec's Michel Ferland won the 1992 renewal in Vernon, British Columbia.

The score read 5-2 at the fifth end break, but after a single by Fanset in the sixth, Quebec responded with a deuce in the seventh and a steal of one in the eighth end to widen the lead to 8-3. 

Although Ontario countered with a pair in the ninth, Dion was able to clear one of his opponent’s stones in the 10th, giving up a meaningless steal as the celebration began for the Celanese Curling Club team.

“We played our game. We had the hammer, we took one, then we gave up one,” said Dion.  “But when we took our three (in the third), that was a big momentum shift.  Our goal was to limit the damage when we didn’t have the hammer. That’s what we did and we came up with the victory. The guys played well.” 

Perhaps even more amazing was the winning streak manufactured by Quebec.   It finished first with a 10-2 mark to earn a bye to the final.

“We were 3-2 after our loss to Saskatchewan (in Draw 8), then we won eight in a row,” continued Dion, who made his first appearance at the Juniors last year as third for Ghyslain Richard, finishing an excellent third to Alberta’s Charley Thomas in St. Catharines.  “After that, all the games were good.”

“I love being a skip.  There’s so much to focus on.   I was playing third last year but I started to be more consistent.  I think that was the big difference for me between last year and this year.  We also thought that experience and age is a big difference (at the Juniors).   Ontario is a younger team and they played two games yesterday.  They were more tired.  It’s huge (our win).  It’s just amazing.  Quebec is not known as a powerhouse in curling, but we proved we can play curling, too, in Quebec.”

Dion and his team will now head to Östersund, Sweden for the world junior curling championships, March 1-9, seeking a leading 17th title for Canada since 1975.

“It’s amazing to be going to Sweden, going overseas and try to do our best to win it for Canada,” said the 20-year-old Dion.

“That was a tough one (giving up three in the third),” said 17-year-old Fanset, who directed his team to a 9-3 round robin mark, before winning a tiebreaker for third and the semi-final on Saturday.   “But I didn’t think it was over until the last end.  They’re a great team.  They played awesome.  I struggled a bit.  I think I kind of let my team down, but we did a lot better than we thought we’d do (before the event).”

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