CORNER BROOK, N.L. - Defending champion Braden Calvert defeated Alberta's Karsten Sturmay 7-3 on Friday to lock up a berth in the gold-medal game at the Canadian junior curling championships.

The Manitoba skip clinched first place with a 9-1 record. He'll play the winner of Sunday's semifinal in the championship game later that evening.

Rene Comeau of New Brunswick finished at 8-2 to lock up a semifinal berth. He will play the winner of Saturday's tiebreaker between Quebec's Felix Asselin and Saskatchewan's Jacob Hersikorn.

Asselin, Sturmay and Hersikorn all finished with 7-3 records. Asselin eliminated Sturmay with a 5-3 win in the first tiebreaker Friday afternoon.

The Quebec skip bounced back nicely after closing out round-robin play Friday morning by dropping a 6-4 decision to Northern Ontario's Tanner Horgan.

"It was a confidence builder for everyone on the team actually," Quebec third Alex Cormier said of the tiebreaker performance. "Not everyone was on this morning, so it was great to come back against an awesome team. It was pretty crushing actually to hear we were in the tiebreaker against Alberta and Saskatchewan — two great teams.

"But we're halfway there now. We've got nothing to lose now."

The playoff matchups are set in the women's draw.

B.C.'s Corryn Brown will play Ontario's Chelsea Brandwood in Saturday's semifinal. The winner will take on reigning world champion Kelsey Rocque of Alberta on Saturday night.