Double round robin play is over in the four-team women’s division at the Ferguson-Logan Montague Funeral Home-sponsored PEI Stick Curling Championships at the Montague Curling Rink, with the defending champion due of Etta Reid and Elaine Hughes from the Cornwall Curling Club finishing at the top of the standings with a 5-1 win-loss record and earning a bye to Thursday’s 3:45 pm final.
They will take on the winner of the 2 pm semi-final, between two other Cornwall rinks, Myrna Craswell and Myrna Sanderson, who went 4-2, and Ruth Stavert and Gloria Clarke, with an even 3-3. Finishing out of the playoffs are Western Community’s Audrey Callaghan and Anne Barwise.
Two single round-robin draws, at 9:30 and 10:45 am, remain to be played in the two seven-team Open Division (any combination of male and/or female) pools, with the second and third place teams from each pool advancing to the quarter-final round at 12:30 pm, and the quarter-final winners taking on the first place teams in the 2 pm semis. The winners of the semis square off in the Open Division final at 3:45 pm.
With the 2 round-robin draws left, Cornwall’s Joe Gill and Doug Campbell have the morning off with a 4-2 record in the closely-fought “A” pool, while three rinks, Vince Fisher and Paul Arsenault, and John Dunsford and Alva Clarey, both from Cornwall, plus John Macdonald and Tom O’Rourke from the host club, are 3-2. John Vincent and Walter Callaghan from Western Community and Bill Glydon and Wayne MacPherson from Cornwall are also within playoff striking distance at 2-3.
Cornwall’s Roddie MacLean (left), and Western Community’s Roger Gavin in the house
It’s also a tight race for the 3 playoff spots in the “B” pool, with former Canadian champs Roddie MacLean and Paul Field from Cornwall wrapping up their round-robin play at 4-2, while four rinks sit at 3-2 and Sterling Stratton and Barry Craswell are 2-3. Only Montague’s Higginbotham rink are currently out of contention in this pool.
The tie-breaking scenarios for the playoffs look like this: 1st by wins and losses by team, 2nd by head to head results, 3rd by points – 3 Pts for a win, 0 pts for a loss, 1 Point per end, ½ pt for a blank end, 3 pts (MAX.) difference of score.
The top four Open division teams and top two women’s division duos from this event advance to the Maritime Stick Curling Championships, at the Cornwall Curling Club, from March 15-17, while the winners of both divisions also earn the right to participate in the 2019 Canadian Open Stick Curling Championships, also at the Cornwall Curling Club, from March 31 to April 3rd, 2019