Cornwall Curling Club

Two Cornwall Curling Club teams took home the money this weekend at the Harvey’s General Store Junior cashspiel held at the Crapaud Community  Curling Club.  In the A division, the Veronica Smith team had a perfect 3-0 record against three junior men’s rinks. Playing with Veronica were Katie Fullerton, Sabrina Smith, and Chloe McCloskey. In the B section, the Tyler Smith foursome also posted a perfect 3- 0 finish.  Parker O’Connor, Noah O’Connor and Tyson Smith round out the Tyler Smith rink. Eight teams, from Charlottetown, Cornwall, Montague, and Alberton, took part in the event.

Ontario leads women; New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan top men after Day 1 at Juniors

 SOREL-TRACY, January 16 (CCA)…Ontario’s Rachel Homan admits that she has some unfinished business at this year’s M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, which got underway Saturday at Colisée Cardin and Club de Curling Aurèle-Racine.

Last year in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, her Ottawa Curling Club team finished first after the round robin with a 10-2 mark, but lost the national final to Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes, 7-4.

This year, she’s returned with two of last year’s teammates, third Emma Miskew and lead Lynn Kreviazuk, but has a new second, Laura Crocker, replacing over-age Alison Kreviazuk.

The pre-tournament favourite is off to a perfect start, a 2-0 mark, after a 13-2 pasting of Newfoundland and Labrador (Jen Cunningham) in Saturday evening’s third draw, good enough for sole possession of first place.   Ontario won its first game earlier in the afternoon, defeating Northern Ontario, 9-4.

“We’re playing well,” said the 20-year-old Homan.  “The ice changed, it was a bit different for the two draws. so it’s challenging, but it’s the same for both teams.

“Yes, we definitely have (some unfinished business).  We’re happy to be back.  Last year wasn’t a good experience (losing the final)  but we’re looking forward to this one. We’ll see how far we can take this.

Homan has been touted for the last few years as a rising star in curling and her team has certainly held its own on the women’s tour.  They also competed in the pre-Trials competition last November in Prince George, when trying to qualify for the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials in Edmonton in December.  

They made it to the C semi-finals, but lost to Marie-France Larouche and were eliminated.

“When we can play in the top 12 in Canada for a spot in the Trials, we’re doing something right.  It was a really good experience, especially playing in an arena.  The more you can play on arena ice, the better.   So hopefully  we can carry that along at the nationals and maybe more.”

Right behind Ontario, all with 1-0 records, are British Columbia (Dailene Sivertson of Victoria), Manitoba (Breanne Meakin of Winnipeg) and Quebec (Camille-Marie Lapierre of Otterburn Park), all of whom were idle Saturday night.

In other women’s games in draw two,  New Brunswick (Jessica Daigle of Saint John) was a 10-5 winner over Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall), while Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon) whipped Nova Scotia (Tara LeGay of Bridgewater), 8-2.

In the women’s opening draw, Northern Ontario (Kendra Lilly of Sudbury) defeated Saskatchewan (Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon), 6-3, with steals of one in the eighth end and two in the 10th, Nova Scotia (Tara LeGay of Bridgewater) also stole her way to an 8-6 win over New Brunswick (Jessica Daigle of Saint John), swiping singles in the ninth and 10th ends, while Prince Edward Island (Sarah Fullerton of Cornwall) handled Newfoundland and Labrador (Jen Cunningham of St. John’s), 7-4.

In men’s play, Prince Edward Island’s Brett Gallant, the defending Canadian champion, missed a chance to enter the record books when he lost to New Brunswick (Josh Barry of Rothesay), 10-4.  Gallant currently has 41 career wins as a skip, knotted with Quebec’s Martin Crête, in his record-tying sixth appearance at the Juniors.  With the loss, Prince Edward Island dropped to 1-1.

The result put New Brunswick into a tie for top spot at 2-0 with two others -  Ontario (Jake Walker of Kitchener), which defeated Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John’s), 7-4 and Saskatchewan (Braeden Moskowy of Regina), an 11-8 winner over Nova Scotia (Scott Garnett of Halifax), after stealing two in the ninth and 10th ends.

Alberta (Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton), Manitoba (Alex Forrest of Winnipeg) and Quebec (Kevin Rivest of Montreal) are at 1-0 after evening byes.

In his opening draw, defending men’s champion Prince Edward Island, skipped by Brett Gallant of Charlottetown, got off to a good start, beating Newfoundland and Labrador (Kelly Schuh of St. John’s), 8-4.

Gallant won last year’s championship in Salmon Arm, British Columbia before earning a silver medal at the World Juniors in Vancouver.

The 19-year-old is making a record-tying sixth appearance at the Juniors, equalling Brad Gushue’s mark, and with this victory, tied Quebec’s Martin Crête for most number of career wins as skip, now at 41. 

In other men’s draw one action, Saskatchewan (Braeden Moskowy of Regina) bested Northern Ontario (Christian Tolusso of Thunder Bay), 6-3, while New Brunswick (Josh Barry of Rothesay) edged neighbour Nova Scotia (Scott Garnett of Halifax), 5-4.

Round robin play continues on Sunday through Thursday, with draws at 11:00 am, 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm AST.

After Friday’s final two round robin draws at 9:00 am and 1:30 pm, the first place teams advance to their respective finals, while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals on Saturday, following any required tiebreakers.

The finals take place Sunday, January 24, live on TSN, at Colisée Cardin.

P.E.I.’s Gallant, Fullerton begin play today
CHARLES REID
The Guardian

The wait is over for Brett Gallant and Sarah Fullerton.

P.E.I. women taking simple strategy to nationals
JASON SIMMONDS
The Journal Pioneer

CHARLOTTETOWN - Coach Brenda MacMillan has a simple strategy for the P.E.I. women’s entry at the 2010 M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior curling championships.
“The No. 1 goal is we want to go and have fun, but we also want to try and do well,” said MacMillan. “If we finish in the top half we will be happy.
“If it’s more than that, it will be icing on the cake for us.”
Skip Sarah Fullerton, 18, third stone Michelle McQuaid, 18, second stone Sara MacRae, 18, and lead Whitney Young, 19, of the Cornwall Curling Club will be competing in their first national junior championship in Sorel-Tracy, Que.
The rink earned P.E.I.’s berth by defeating the Anita Casey rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club rink 9-2 in the provincial final in O’Leary.
“The girls right now are pretty excited,” said MacMillan.
Familiarity is not an issue with the Fullerton foursome. MacMillan, who started coaching the rink last season, added Fullerton, McQuaid and McRae have curled together for approximately nine years.
The Fullerton rink, which also represented P.E.I. at the 2005 Canada Winter Games, won last year’s Atlantic 18-and-under championship in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thus, this rink does have some big-game experience and enters the nationals enjoying a very successful year.
“We’ve really done well so far this season on the cashspiel circuit,” noted MacMillan.
They won in Summerside, Cornwall and finished second in Sackville, N.B. MacMillan said the rink curled well in the Charlottetown Super League as well.
“The biggest turning point for this team was Halloween weekend,” she said. “We went to Ottawa to the big OVCA Superspiel, a major junior cashspiel up there and there’s teams from the States and sometimes teams from Europe come over.”
Overall, the rink went 1-4.
“They felt it gave them the edge to work harder to win the provincial (championship),” said MacMillan.
As is the key in any round-robin format, MacMillan agrees a good start is important.
“We’d like to win our first couple of games and get us rolling,” she said. “But I told the girls to take it one rock and one end at a time.
“Don’t look at it that after 10 ends I want to be the winner. If something happens that the rock doesn’t do what you want it to do, go on to the next one. Don’t dwell on it.”

C K CARPET BONSPIEL
 
Friday January 15, 7:00 PM
 
Ice 1: Ray Biage , Debby Sigsworth, Karen Montgomery, Tony Turnbull
                                      V/S
          Dick MacDonald, Melody Beck,   Martin Vanderaa, Linda Turnbull
 
Ice 2:  Rupert Sweetapple, Marjorie Matthews, Neil Smith, Gloria Clarke
                                      V/S
          Bob Fowler, Myrna Sanderson, Ronalda Baillie, Bill Vanderaa
 
Ice 3: John DeLuca, Marie MacDonald, Virginia MacDonald, Frank Legault
                                     V/S
         Paul Neima, Donald Weeks,  Helene LaPalme,  Helen Smith
 
Ice 4: Paul Arsenault, Danielle Girard,  Steve Montgomery,  Helen Arsenault
                                     V/S
          Barb Duncan Biage, Paul Horne, George Younker, Vicki Cotton
 
Friday January 15, 8:30 PM
 
Ice 1:  Rob Young, Carl Currie, Kristin Casey, Sheri Boutilier
                                   V/S
          Lorianne Davies, John Berry, Rebecca Rolfe,  Gordon Matthews
 
Ice 2;  Angus Kennedy, Carol,Sweetapple, Greg St. John, Linda Matthews
                                V/S
          Tom Dunn, Vern Chowan, Pat McCardle,  Bernie Field
 
Ice 3:  Mark MacDonald, Ruth Stavert, Paulette Richard, Dick MacKinnon
                                V/S
          Ernie Stavert, Mary Plamondon, Dick St. John, Chris MacPherson
 
Ice 4:  Shirley Berry, Bill Prowse, Bill Brown, Paula Ling
                                V/S
          Karen Currie, Angus Davies, Jamie Ballem, Pam Sweetapple

Our “The Dominion” men’s and women’s club championships are scheduled for January 29 and 30 (and 31 if needed).  Entry fee is $120 per team. Entry deadline is January 26 at 11 pm. The signup sheet is up now at the Club.  This event will be in the form of a cash spiel, with 50% of the entry fees being returned to the winners and runners-up in both the men’s and women’s divisions. The format of the spiel will be determined by the number of teams entered.

 Please read eligibility rules before signing up. The winning teams will advance to the provincial The Dominion, March 18-21, right here in Cornwall. The provincial winners will then play in the national The Dominion championship, November 23 to 28, also here in Cornwall, and Charlottetown.

Here are the eligibility rules as provided  for the Club championship:

 1 – Teams are to be made up from paid members from the Cornwall Curling Club.

 2 – Teams may include no more than one player who has played in a Men’s, Women’s, or Senior’s event in the current or previous year, or participated in a Grand Slam event in the current or previous year. (Those who played together in a mixed event in the current or previous year are eligible to play together in this event)

 3 – Each team will be allowed a maximum of 2 players between the ages of 15 and 20, as of December 31st of the year prior to the Canadian championship. Curlers under the age of 15 are not eligible to compete.

 4 – A maximum of 2 replacement players must come from the same club, can play any position but skip, cannot play any position higher than the position being replaced, and cannot be chosen from another team already in the event . Team must advise event coordinator (Ray Biagé) of any roster changes prior to game.

 5 – Curlers from the former Intermediate championship and the Stick curling championship, and from championships not conducted by the PEICA, may compete, regardless of placement in those events, and provided that all team members belong to the same curling club.

Entries must conform to the official eligibility rules for the provincial and national events:

Dominion Rules
We trust that all participants will respect the intent of this championship.  The event is formulated for true club curlers, not elite, past or present.  We want to support ordinary curlers and the development of curlers across Canada.  As we set our eligibility and on-ice rules, including the CCA Rules of Curling for General Play, keep this objective in mind.  The Dominion reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to exclude any team that violates this spirit and intent.
 
1.                  The curling club represented by the team must be affiliated with its Provincial / Territory Association.
 
2.                  Each club will declare a women’s team and a men’s team of four players that played together, regularly, in a sanctioned club league in the most recent season, excluding major/super leagues, to represent the club as the men’s and women’s club champions.  How the club declares this team is up to the individual club.
 
3.                  Each team will be allowed one player who has played in a Men’s, Women’s or Seniors provincial event in the current or previous year, or participated in a Grand Slam event in the current or previous year. *
 
4.                  All games will be eight (8) ends with ties being decided by a full extra end.
 
5.                  A maximum of 2 replacement players from the club can play any position except skip, but cannot play in any position than the position being filled.
 
6.                  Each team will be allowed a maximum of 2 players under the age of 20, as of December 31st of the year prior to the championship (minimum age of 19 as of December 31st). **
 
7.                  The Dominion has the sole authority to grant exceptions to these rules in extraordinary circumstances.
 
*Provinces/Territories with open provincials/territories will be permitted 1 player who has placed top 4 in a Men’s, Women’s or Seniors provincial/territory event in the current or previous year, or participated in a Grand Slam in the current of previous year.
 
**Individual curling associations may adopt a more restrictive criteria, if they choose.

Here is the schedule for the Commercial league for the next few weeks:
 
Monday Night Commercial League Draw:
 
Jan. 11
Ice 1:  Holmes vs. Lank
Ice 2:  Lions Vs. Countryview 1
Ice 3:  Eastern Auto vs. Countryview 2
 
Jan. 18
Ice 1:  Lions vs Lank
Ice 3:  Countyview 2 vs. Holmes
Ice 4:  Countryview 1 vs. Eastern Auto
 
Jan. 25
Ice 2:  Lank vs. Countryview 1
Ice 3:  Eastern Auto  vs. Holmes
Ice 4:  Lions vs. Countryview 2
 
Feb. 1
Ice 2:  Eastern Auto vs. Lions Club
Ice 3:  Lank vs. Countryview 2
Ice 4:  Holmes vs. Countryview 1
 
Feb 8
Ice 1:  Countryview 1 vs. Countryview 2
Ice 2:  Holmes vs. Lions Club
Ice 3:  Lank vs. Eastern Auto

The Charlottetown Curling Club’s Erin Carmody foursome will play the Tammy Dewar rink from the host Montague Curling Club in the two game championship round, Tuesday at 2 and 7 pm, as the Scotties Tournament of Heart Provincial Women’s Curling Championship wraps up in Montague.

Carmody took the C title in the triple knockout competition tonight, beating Cornwall’s Donna Butler rink by a 7-5 score. As Carmody also won the A section, she has a big advantage in the championship round, as, by winning two sections, she will take the championship if she wins either game, while Dewar, who won only the B section, must win both to take the title.

In tonight’s game, Butler was ahead 4-2 after stealing a deuce in the seventh end, but Carmody took four points in the eighth. The teams traded singles in the last ends, to give Carmody the win by a two point margin.

Other members of the Carmody rink are third Geri-Lynn Ramsay, Kathy O’Rourke, who throws second stone, but calls the game, and lead Trisha Affleck.

The Butler rink includes Carolyn Coulson, Melissa Andrews, Lori Brine, and fifth player Leita Chisholm, along with coach Kathie Gallant. The Dewar team includes June Moyaert at third, Darlene London at second stone, and Gail Greene in the lead position. Moyaert was on the Jennifer Ramsay rink, the last team from Montague to win the women’s championship, in 1988.

The PEI Scotties winning team will advance to the national Scotties, January 30 to February 7 in Sault Ste. Marie Ont.

It’s down to three teams and a maximum of three games at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Provincial Women’s Curling Championships in Montague. This afternoon, A final winner Erin Carmody from the Charlottetown Curling Club eliminated five-time PEI women’s champion Suzanne Birt in an 8-7 decision, while Cornwall’s Donna Butler rink beat the host Montague Curling Club’s Tammy Dewar team, winners of the B final, by a  7-4 score. Butler and Carmody now face off in the C final of this triple-knockout event, set for 7 pm.

Photo (L-R): Donna Butler, Carolyn Coulson, Melissa Andrews, Lori Brine, Leita Chisholm

Butler, with teammates Carolyn Coulson, Melissa Andrews, Lori Brine, and fifth player Leita Chisholm and coach Kathie Gallant, got off to an early start in her game, picking up a triple in the first end, and stealing a single in the second. Dewar narrowed the gap to 5-3 after eight, but Butler took a deuce in the ninth, and ran the hometown favorites out of rocks in the final frame.  Carmody and Birt were tied at three at the half,  but Carmody took a deuce in the sixth, and a triple in the eighth to build up an 8-4 lead.  Birt fought back with a deuce in the ninth, but a steal of one in the tenth left her one short of the tie.

The winners of all three finals will then advance to the championship round, Tuesday at 2 and 7 pm. If Carmody wins this evening, she will have a big advantage, as, by winning two of the three finals, she will play in both Tuesday games, and win the title in she takes either. If Butler wins, she will play Dewar in the 2 pm game, with the winner facing Carmody in the 7 pm match. 

The PEI Scotties winning team will advance to the national Scotties, January 30 to February 7 in Sault Ste. Marie Ont.