The Kesa Van Osch team from the Nanaimo Curling Club hit a bit of a bump in the road Wednesday, but B.C. representatives are still tied for first place at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Napanee, Ont.

Van Osch, who plays with sisters Kalia and Marika and Brooklyn Leitch, ran her winning streak to seven games in the morning with a 10-2 decision over Jennifer Armstrong from Rothesay, N.B. Then Jamie Sinclair of Ontario halted the streak with a 6-4 decision over Van Osch.

Van Osch, Jocelyn Peterman of Red Deer and Winnipeg's Shannon Birchard all have 7-2 records with three round-robin games remaining.

"We just didn't have a good game against Ontario,'' said Kesa Van Osch. "We were just a little heavy or a little light with everything and it cost us. This is a very long event and every team is going to have some ups and downs.''

Jim Newlands coaches the Van Osch team and he says they are handling the pressure well.

"We've had a very good start and we hit a bit of a speed bump today,'' said Newlands. "I'm sure that they will rebound and have some more solid performances for the rest of the week. We have some tough games remaining and we'll just have to make the right shots at the right time.''

Heading into today's games, Kesa is the No. 1ranked skip while third Kalia is No. 1. Marika is No. 2 and Leitch is No. 5.

Van Osch plays Kristen Streifel from Saskatoon and Birchard today before closing out the round-robin on Friday against Emily Dwyer from Halifax.

Josh Hozack, B.C.'s junior men's rep from the Victoria Curling Centre, dropped both games Wednesday and has a 1-8 record.

Hozack, who is supported by Corey Chester, Nolan Reid and Zac Capron, lost a close 7-5 decision to Josh Barry of Fredericton before suffering an 8-2 loss to Brett DeKoning of Ontario.

"We have had some very close games,'' said Hozack. "We have lost two in extra ends and another three on last shots. We always seem to have one bad end and the other team jumps on us.

"Even with our losing record, we try to treat each day like it is the start of the championships and play our best.''

The top three teams advance to the playoffs with the junior women's final scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday. The junior men's final goes at 4 p.m. Sunday and both will be shown on TSN.

rrauch@timescolonist.com