Moose Jaw’s Brett Behm had a strong start to the 2018 Saskatchewan Men’s and Women’s Junior Curling Championship at the Callie Curling Club in Regina.

The local rink knocked off Regina’s Austin Williamson, 5-3, in the opening draw at provincials on Wednesday.

Behm opened the scoring with a single in the first and added to the lead with a steal of one in the fourth to make it 2-0. Williamson was able to tie things up with a deuce in the sixth, but Behm answered right back with two of his own in the seventh.

The two teams traded singles in the eighth and ninth as Behm held on for the win to open provincials at 1-0.

Tema Behm will continue round robin play on Thursday with a pair of games. They take on Saskatoon’s Rylan Kleiter in the morning draw at 8:30 a.m. and then they face fellow Moose Javian Carson Ackerman at 7 p.m.

Ackerman opened provincials at 0-1 after falling 5-2 to Kleiter on Wednesday. Steals of one in the third, sixth and ninth ends were the difference for Kleiter in the win.

The Saskatoon-based Ackerman rink will hit the ice on Thursday morning against Regina’s Mitchell Dales.

On the women’s side, Moose Jaw’s Skylar Ackerman dropped a back-and-forth 6-5 game to Saskatoon’s Chaelynn Kitz in her opener on Wednesday.

Ackerman opened the scoring with a single in the first; she went in front 2-1 in the fourth; and 3-2 after the sixth.  Kitz was able to take over after that, scoring a deuce in the seventh to take the lead for the first time. She followed that up with a steal of one in the eighth to make it 5-3.

Ackerman didn’t go away and was able to tie the game with a deuce in the ninth, but Kitz was able to score one with her final stone to secure the win.

Ackerman returns to the ice for two games on Thursday. She will square off with Regina’s Rachel Erickson at 8:30 a.m. and then take on Weyburn’s Emily Haupstein at 7 p.m.

Click here for the full results.