The Atlantic Curling Tour’s 10th anniversary Rodd Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic concludes today at the Charlottetown Curling Club, with Island rinks making up six of the 10 teams who have advanced to the championship round. The Suzanne Birt and Donna Butler rinks, who curled in our Tuesday night competitive league last season, are among those teams.
Round robin play wrapped up Saturday night, with the Birt rink finishing in first place in the 12 team women’s division with a perfect 5-0 win-loss record. Nova Scotia’s Chad Stevens rink were undefeated on the 15 team men’s side, at 4-0, after handing PEI’s Brett Gallant foursome their first loss on Saturday evening, by a 6-1 score. Stevens put the game out of reach early with a stolen triple in the third end. Birt blanked Newfoundland/Labrador’s Heather Strong rink 7-0 in her last round robin game, grabbing a 5-0 lead after two ends, with a triple and a deuce. Cornwall’s Butler team finished second in the women’s division, with a 4-1 win-loss record, their only loss being to Coralie Richard of NS on Friday.
New Brunswick’s Mike Kennedy, and four island men’s rinks, skipped by Gallant, Mike Gaudet, Robert Campbell and Rod MacDonald, all finished with 3-1 records. Campbell faces Gaudet, while Kennedy takes on Gallant in the 9 am Sunday quarter-finals, with the winner of the Kennedy/Gallant game taking on MacDonald, and the Gaudet/Campbell victor battling Stevens, in the noon semis.
The women’s noon semi-final matchups see the Islanders play New Brunswick teams, with Birt taking on Lady Monctonian winner Sylvie Robichaud, who finished round robin play at 3-2, and Butler facing Melissa Adams, also 3-2.
The men’s and women’s finals go at 3 pm.
