L-R: Christopher Gallant, Emily Gray, Michelle McQuaid, Cindy Fraser (ADL), Dick. St. John
The annual ADL/Sport PEI Sport Achievement Awards ceremony was held this evening at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, in conjunction with the PEI Curling Association’s Annual General Meeting. The awards honour the achievements of PEI curlers, coaches, officials, and volunteers during the past season, in eight categories, plus a President’s Award. Silver Fox Vice President Gerald Caissy was Master of Ceremonies for the awards. Here are this year’s winners, chosen from 53 nominations:
Junior Female ~ Emily Gray and Michelle McQuaid (tie)
Junior Male ~ Christopher Gallant.
Senior Female ~ Rebecca Jean MacDonald
Senior Male ~ Robert Campbell.
Coach ~ Dick St. John
Official ~ Kay Atkinson
Volunteer ~ Kim Dolan (accepted by Rebecca Jean MacDonald)
Team ~ Robert Campbell (Mixed)
President’s Award – Bob Laird
Click to view an album of photos from the event.
Brief biographies:
Junior Female
Emily Gray, from the Maple Leaf club in O’Leary, is one of only four curlers across Canada chosen to represent Canada at the World Youth Olympics in Austria next January. She was also on thie year’s Canada Games team, playing second stone.
Cornwall’s Michelle McQuaid played third on this year’s PEI Junior Women’s team. She is a former winner of the Joan Mead Legacy award and scholarship, presented annually at the national Juniors to a curler who best exemplifies leadership, excellence and fair play. She also played third on this year’s UPEI, who finished second at the Atlantic University Curling Championships in Wolfville NS.
Junior Male
The Charlottetown Curling Club’s Christopher Gallant, the newest competitor from the Gallant curling family, threw fourth stones for the Alex Matters rink, winners of the Atlantic Under 18, and PEI 17 and Under curling championships, and skipped the PEI Junior Mixed championship team.
Senior Female
Rebecca Jean MacDonald from the Charlottetown Curling Club had an extremely busy 2010 and 2011, getting married in October, and playing third on the PEI Mixed curling team, skipped by Robert Campbell, that won the Canadian Championship in Morris Manitoba in November. In January, she competed in the PEI Scotties women’s championship, an event she has won six times as either skip or third. She played third for Kim Dolan this time, and did not win the event, but teamed up with Dolan off the ice as host commitee co-chairs of this year’s very successful Canadian Scotties, held in Charlottetown in February. In March, she again played third for Robert Campbell in the PEI Mixed championship, but they did not repeat as Island champs, losing out to former Canadian Junior champ Brett Gallant by a single point in the final In April, she and Campbell represented Canada at the World Mixed Doubles championship in St. Paul Minnesota, finishing with an overall record of 5-4 after making it to the tiebreaker round in their first-ever experience playing the mixed doubles format.
Senior Male
Robert Campbell of Charlottetown skipped his team to his second Canadian Mixed curling championship (his first was in 1989), in November. With a 79% round robin shooting average, Campbell, was named all-star skip for the event, and is only the seventh skip to win the Mixed twice. In February, he competed in the PEI Tankard, which he won eight times previously, but didn’t make the winners circle this time. Teaming up with Rebecca Jean MacDonald, he represented Canada at the World Mixed Doubles championship in St. Paul Minnesota in April, finishing with an overall record of 5-4 and making it to the tiebreaker round. Campbell and his team also competed in this year’s provincial mixed championship, but lost out to the Brett Gallant foursome by a 5-4 score in the final.
Coach
Dick St. John from the Cornwall Curling Club is a long-time Special Olympics curling coach. The PEI curling teams competed in the New Brunswick winter games in February.
Official
Charlottetown’s Kay Atkinson is head official for the PEI Curling Association, and also served as Chief Umpire for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian Women’s Curling Championship, held in Charlottetown in February. It is very rare for a local person to be selected to supervise all officials at an event like this, especially in a small market such as PEI. She was involved in this past season’s national The Dominion Curling Club Championship in Charlottetown and Cornwall, and has officiated at many events in the past, including the senior nationals, two Briers, several national juniors and the Olympic trials in Halifax.
Volunteer
Kim Dolan of Charlottetown chaired this year’s national Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She was also named chair in 1999, but had to turn things over to another volunteer, as she ended up winning the PEI championship and playing in the event, along with Rebecca Jean MacPhee (now MacDonald), who is her co-chair this time. By all reports, the 2011 Scotties was a huge success, attracting record television audiences, and packing the house for many draws, and the HeartStop Lounge as well. Dolan also has eight PEI women’s championsbips to her credit, along with being the first woman to skip a team to a PEI mixed curling title.
Team
Charlottetown’s Robert Campbell Mixed team, which included Rebecca Jean MacDonald at third, second stone Robbie Doherty, and lead Jackie Reid skipped their PEI championship rink to a Canadian championship in Morris Manitoba in November. This was Campbell’s second Canadian Mixed title, but the first for his teammates. Campbell and MacDonald also represented Canada at the World Mixed Doubles championship in St. Paul Minnesota in April, finishing with an overall record of 5-4 and making it to the tiebreaker round. The rink also competed in this year’s provincial championship, but lost out to the Brett Gallant foursome by a 5-4 score in the final.
President’s Award
Bob Laird, from the Montague Curling Club, has been involved with Stick Curling for many years, as the president of Stick Curling PEI, as a delivery stick manufacturer with his company “Bob’s Stick” and as a sponsor of stick curling, donating sticks for provincial championships and stick curling bonspiels. He is a constant ambassador of the sport, and has arranged stick curling matches across the Island in order to promote the sport.