Alberta's Brendan Bottcher defeated the Yukon 7-3 in Thursday's late draw to retain sole possession of first place in the men's standings at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior curlingchampionship.

The win improved Bottcher's record to 10-1.

Manitoba's Kyle Doering (9-2) kept pace with Bottcher, beating last-place British Columbia 5-3.

Doering and Bottcher entered Thursday's early draw tied for the lead, but Doering dropped a 7-6 decision to Quebec's Felix Asselin to slip to second place.

Nova Scotia's Stuart Thompson (8-3) moved into a tie for third with idle Northern Ontario with a seven-end, 7-2 win over Ontario.

Yukon is in fifth at 6-4.

Quebec (6-5) fell to sixth place after a 5-4 extra-end loss to Saskatchewan's Brady Scharback. Saskatchewan scored two in the 10th to send the match to an extra end.

In the women's event, Manitoba's Shannon Birchard edged ahead of B.C.'s Kesa Van Osch 6-5 in a battle of two of the top teams. Birchard had a commanding 6-1 lead after eight ends, but Van Osch made it close with two in the ninth and two in the 10th.

Manitoba and Alberta lead the women's standings at 9-2, while B.C is in third at 8-3.

Alberta's Jocelyn Peterman kept pace with Birchard by holding off Yukon 7-6.

Ontario, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. are in a three-way tie for fourth at 6-5. Ontario beat Nova Scotia 9-2 in seven ends in the late draw, while P.E.I. was idle.

Saskatchewan scored two in the 10th end to beat Quebec 7-5 in the other late draw match.