The first two of eight qualifiers for the championship round were determined this afternoon in the 40 team Open (any combination of men and women) division at the Canadian Two Person Stick Curling Championship, hosted by the Cornwall Curling Club, with ice being used at the Charlottetown Curling Complex today only as well.
The Floyd Stewart/Gordon MacDonald duo from the Montague Curling Club edged the host Cornwall Curling Club’s Roddie MacLean/Paul Field twosome 7-6 to grab the first qualifying spot. MacLean and Field had started the day by scoring a rare six-ender (equivalent to an eight-ender in regular curling) in the 8 am draw.
The second qualifier game was between the rink of Tom and Rae Campbell of Winnipeg and Carson and Miranne Shultz of Didsbury Alberta, with the Shultz rink coming on strong in the final two ends of a tied-up game, stealing a single in the fifth and sealing the win with a steal of four points in the final end for a 6-1 win.
The next two qualifying games go Wednesday at 2:15 pm, with the final four qualifiers chosen in the 4:15 Wed. draw. The quarter-finals go Thursday morning at 10:30. The semis go at 11:30, with the winners advancing to the final, and the losers playing in the Bronze medal game at the same time. There is also a consolation round for the losers of qualifying games 5 through 8.
The ten team, two pool Women’s division round robin wraps up with the 1 pm Wednesday draw, with crossover games following at 3:15, semis Thursday at 1:15, and the final Thursday at 3:15. Results from today’s draws are still being tabulated.
In Stick Curling there are two curlers per team, who deliver their rocks with delivery sticks, with each team member delivering from opposite ends of the ice sheet. Sweeping is allowed only from the hog line to the back of the house at the playing end. Two curlers, one from each team, alternately deliver 6 stones each per end, while their teammate skips that end. The roles are then reversed, and the partners deliver the stones back. No stone may be removed from play until the fourth stone of each end. Games are six ends and take about an hour to play. For more information on Stick Curling, including complete rules of play, visit www.stickcurling.ca.
Results are available at curlingresults.com/canadianstick