Jane DiCarlo, Curl PEI President, then took the podium:
“Hi, everybody. On behalf of Curl PEI and the Board, thank you to the committee for organizing this year’s ceremony. Congratulations to the inductees!
Curling has a unique community spirit. There’s probably just one degree of separation between curlers here in PEI. The work done by the inductees and everyone here to get more people curling is really what it’s all about.
Thank you to everyone who makes curling possible—from the people who run clubs to the volunteers and fans. I look forward to a great ceremony tonight.”
Al Ledgerwood:
Thank you, Jane. Now we move on to the induction ceremony. I’ll read the citation for each inductee, after which they’ll come forward to receive their plaque.
Our first inductee tonight is Shirley Berry.
Shirley started curling in 1978 in Crapaud and joined the Cornwall Curling Club when it opened in 1982. She was also a member of the Summerside Curling Club for two years, and a member of Charlottetown Curling Club for three.
Shirley won her first of seven Prince Edward Island Senior Women’s Curling Championships in 2002, with third Sherren Morrison, second Arleen Harris, and lead Linda Fairhurst. Their coach was Butch McGee. The provincials were at Cornwall this year, and, as the first adult curling championship won by a Cornwall team, this was a big event at the Cornwall club. They went on to play in the Canadian Senior Women’s Curling Championship in St. Thomas, Ont.
In 2004, she won her second Prince Edward Island Senior Women’s Curling Championship, playing with third Arleen Harris, second Karen McIntee, and lead Linda Fairhurst,and coached again by Butch McGee. The Canadian Senior Women’s was in Vernon, BC.
Shirley again won in 2009, with third Arleen Harris, Carol Sweetapple at second, and lead Danielle Girard, again with coach Butch McGee. The Canadian Championship was held in Summerside, PEI that year.
In 2010, she won with third Sandy Hope, second Shelley Ebbett, and lead Arleen Harris. Coaches were Butch McGee and Bill Hope. The Canadian Championship took place in Ottawa, Ontario that year.
Shirley won the 2012 Prince Edward Island Senior Women’s Curling Championship with third Sandy Hope, second Shelley Ebbett, and lead Arleen Harris. They went on to represent PEI at the Canadian Championship in Abbottsford, BC.
In 2015, the same team, the only team entered in the PEI playoffs, went on to represent PEI at the nationals in Edmonton, Alberta.
Shirley again won the seniors title in 2018, with third Janice Murdoch, Arleen Harris at second. and Kim Nicholson at lead. They played in the Canadian Senior Women’s Curling Championship in Stratford, Ont.
Shirley was runner-up in PEI Senior Women’s Playdowns in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2017. She holds the record for the most wins in the PEI Senior Women’s Championship.
In 2012, she won the Prince Edward Island Women’s Master’s Curling Championship with third Sandy Hope, second Arleen Harris, and lead Evelyn Rogerson.
Shirley won in 2014 with the same team and went on to win the Maritime Masters.
In 2015, she won her third PEI Master’s with Sandy Hope at third, Shelley Ebbett at second, and Arleen Harris at lead. They competed at the Canadian Women’s Master’s Curling Championship in Whitehorse, Yukon.
In 2018, Shirley’s team of Linda Fairhurst at third, second stone Marlene Proude, and lead Marjorie Matthews was runner-up in the PEI Masters, but they did not attend the Maritime Masters.
In 2019, Shirley’s team of Linda Fairhurst, Gloria Turner and Marjorie Matthews was again the provincial Masters runner-up, and went on to win the the Maritime Masters in Rothesay, NB.
In 2021, with Karen Currie at third, Gloria Turner at second and Linda Fairhurst at lead, Shirley was once again the winner of the PEI Masters.
In 2022, with Sherren MacKinnon at third, Gloria Turner at second and lead Linda Fairhurst, she picked up yet another PEI Masters title.
In 2023, with Karen Currie at third, Gloria Turner at second and Linda Fairhurst at lead, yet another title win took them to compete in Saint John NB.
In 2024, with Karen Currie at third, Gloria Turner at second and Sandra Sobey at lead, they added another provincial title to the list, and went on to play in Saguenay, QC.
In 2025, with Karen Currie at third, Sherren MacKinnon at second and Sandra Sobey at lead, they won the PEI Women’s Masters one more time.
Shirley was runner-up twice in the PEI Women’s Curling Championship – in 1989 with third Marie MacDonald, second Pam Sherren, and lead Kim Andrews, and in 1996, with third Carolyn Hughes, second Sarah Stevenson, and lead Diane Farquharson. She was also runner-up to the Jamie Newson team in the PEI Mixed Championship in 2014.
Shirley holds a Level 1 Officiating Certificate and has worked at various events and provincial playdowns as a timer.
She has volunteered with various activities over a long period of time to raise revenue for the Cornwall club, also donating or acquiring prizes for events as well as attending Curl PEI meetings as a club delegate.
Shirley helped with the Little Rock Program at the Charlottetown Curling Club, and she assisted with organizing and facilitating the Dominion Curling Club Championship event co-hosted at Cornwall.
With seven PEI Senior Women’s curling titles, eight PEI Women’s Masters titles, two Maritiime Masters wins, two runners-up in the PEI Women’s Curling Championship and one runner-up in the PEI Mixed Curling Championship, Shirley has made a place for herself in the PEI curling community as a winning competitive curler as well as a steadfast curling volunteer.
Shirley, would you like to come forward?
Shirley Berry:
“Wow… I don’t even know what to say. I never expected to be standing here tonight. I want to thank the person who nominated me and the committee that selected me.
My bio says I started curling in 1978, but what some of you don’t know is I actually threw my first rock in 1969 at the Charlottetown Curling Club at 3:00 a.m.—that’s another story.
When I began curling, my first lesson was at the club with Janet Harper from Montague. We were having a great game, the score was 9-6 after four ends, and we thought we’d won. After ten ends, the score was 10-9 for Janet. That’s when I realized I knew nothing about strategy. I started watching videos and reading books.
I’d like to think of all the girls I had the opportunity to coach and grow over the years. I also want to thank Irene, who called me around 1998 or 2000 and said, “You just turned 50—would you like to form a curling team?” And that’s how it all began. After 26 years, I can’t believe it.
Again, thank you to the committee for selecting me to be inducted.”
Al Ledgerwood: “Thank you, Shirley. Watching you over the years, whether coaching or playing, you’ve always brought fire and passion to the ice.
Next up is Shelley Bradley.
Shelly began her illustrious curling career in Dalhousie, New Brunswick when she was 12 years old, encouraged by both her curling parents. She represented New Brunswick at the Canadian Junior Women’s Curling event in 1988. The team was skipped by Cathy McEwen, with teammates Lori Murphy, Shelly (Danks) Bradley, and Tracy Bennett.
Moving to PEI, she represented PEI at this same national Juniors event in 1989, skipping her team of Gail MacNeil, Tricia MacGregor, and Sheri Currie. She again represented PEI in 1990, this time with Pamela MacCallum, Tricia MacGregor, and Vanessa MacCallum.
Her first PEI Women’s Curling Championship came in 1994 with Nancy Reid at third, Janice MacCallum at second and lead Shelley Muzika. They went on to represent the Island at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Waterloo, Ontario.
In 1999, Shelly was the alternate player with the PEI Womens Championship team of skip Rebecca Jean MacPhee, third Kim Dolan, second stone Kathy O’Rourke and lead Lou Ann Henry. They represented PEI at the Scotties held in Charlottetown.
Shelly was the skip at her next women’s title, in 2000, with Janice MacCallum at third, Leslie Allan at second and Tricia MacGregor at lead. This same team won again in 2001.
In 2005, Shelly won her next provincial women’s title throwing skips rocks for Rebecca Jean MacPhee, with Robyn MacPhee at second and lead Stephanie Richard. They went on to compete at the Scotties in St John’s Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 2006, Shelly, as fifth player, with Suzanne Gaudet, Susan McInnis, Nancy Cameron and Trisha Affleck, went on to represent PEI at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts held in London, Ontario.
In 2010, Shelly was the fifth player on the Kathy O’Rourke team of Erin Carmody, Geri-Lynn Ramsay, and Tricia MacGregor. This team gave a stellar performance at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, placing runner-up to Team Canada, skipped by Jennifer Jones, following an exciting 8-7 extra-end final.
The following year, Shelly played third for Suzanne Birt, with Robyn MacPhee at second and lead Leslie MacDougall. Winning this provincial title sent them on to compete before a hometown crowd at the Scotties, held in Charlottetown, PEI.
In 2013, again playing third for Suzanne Birt, with Sarah Fullerton and Leslie MacDougall, Shelly added another provincial women’s title, and the team went on to play in the Scotties, this time held in Kingston, Ontario.
In 2015, playing third with Suzanne Birt, Shelly, along with Michelle McQuaid at second and lead Susan McInnis, once again won the Provincial Women’s Curling Championship, and headed to to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan for the national Scotties.
Shelly skipped the winning 2021 PEI Women’s Curling Club championship team, and competed at the Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships in Ottawa with Amanda Power, Aleya Quilty, and Jody Murphy.
In 2022, Shelly skipped her team of third Susan McInnis, second Tricia MacGregor, and lead Julie Scales to win her first PEI Senior Women’s Curling Championship. They went on the represent PEI at the Everest Senior Women’s Canadian Curling Championship event held in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
In 2023, with the same team, Shelly again won the Provincial senior women’s title, this time travelling further to represent PEI, at the national event held in Vernon, BC.
2024 saw this same team represent PEI at the national senior women’s event held in Moncton New Brunswick.
Shelly was part of the Amanda Power team placing second in the 2024 PEI Women’s Curling Championship.
Another PEI Senior Women’s Curling Championship went to Shelly in 2025, with her team of third Kathy O’Rourke, second Susan McInnis and lead Tricia MacGregor. They will compete in the Canadian Seniors Championship to be held in Ottawa in December 2025.
Shelly also coached the Holland College Women’s Curling team at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships in 2018 and 2019. The 2018 team included Cynthia Pearson, Tegan Stride, Mackenzie Stewart, and Taya Ray Crossman. The 2019 team included Cynthia Pearson, Megan Ching, Danielle Collings, and Tegan Stride.
Shelly was inducted into the Dalhousie New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame as an individual in 1998 and as part of a team in 2004.
Shelly has had an impressive curling career spanning more than 35 years and is a worthy inductee into the PEI Curling Hall of Fame.
Shelly, would you like to come forward?”
Shelly Bradley
Wow, thank you so much. I’m really humbled to be here tonight and to be inducted into the PEI Curling Hall of Fame. Curling has been such a huge part of my life, and I’m grateful for all the people I’ve met along the way.
I want to thank my teammates, both past and present, for all the games, practices, and travels. You all made this journey so memorable.
I also want to recognize the volunteers, coaches, and organizers who make curling possible. Without you, we wouldn’t have the clubs, events, or support system that we do.
Finally, my family—thank you for putting up with all the time I spent at the rink, traveling for competitions, and focusing on curling. Your support has meant everything to me.
Thank you, everyone.”
Al Ledgerwood: “Thanks, Shelly. It’s incredible to watch your career over the years. Your commitment, leadership, and love for the game have made a lasting impact on curling in PEI.
Next up is Mike Gaudet.
Mike’s first provincial win was in 1992 when he skipped a team consisting of third Eddie MacKenzie, second Tyler Harris and lead John Peters to the PEI provincial junior men’s championship. The team went on to capture a bronze medal at the Pepsi Canadian Juniors Championship in Vernon, British Columbia, losing to Nova Scotia’s Shawn Adams in the semi-final.
It didn’t take Mike long to get into the winner’s circle at the men’s level. In only his second year of men’s curling, Mike skipped his team of third Eddie MacKenzie, second Tyler Harris and lead Craig Arsenault to the 1994 PEI mens championship, propelling the team to their first Brier, held in Red Deer, Alberta.
In 1997 Mike skipped his team of third Leslie MacDougall (Allen), second Brian Scales and lead Lori Robinson to the PEI provincial mixed championship. The team competed at the national championship held in January 1998 in Owen Sound, Ontario.
Mike skipped his second provincial men’s championship in 2004, with the team of third Evan Sullivan, second Craig Arsenault and lead Sean Ledgerwood winning in their home club, the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, beating the John Likely rink in the final and going on to compete in the 2004 Brier in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.
Two years later Mike teamed up with his sister Suzanne (Gaudet) Birt at third, second Craig Arsenault and lead Leslie (Allen) MacDougall to win the provincial mixed championship, and go on to compete in the national event in Kitchener, Ontario.
In 2011 Mike played third stone, with a team skipped by his long–time friend Eddie MacKenzie. The change from skip worked out, as the team, which also included second Mike Dillon and lead Alex MacFadyen, won the provincial men’s title and a trip to the 2011 Brier in London, Ontario.
Mike was back at skip in 2012, winning his fourth provincial men’s championship. His team of third Tyler MacKenzie, second Tyler Harris and lead Sean Clarey beat Mike’s previous year’s skip Eddie MacKenzie in the final to win the championship and another opportunity to compete at the Brier in Saskatoon.
In total, Mike’s career included one provincial junior men’s championship, two provincial mixed titles and four provincial men’s championships, with Mike skipping six of the seven titles.
Mike, please come forward.
Mike Gaudet
Thanks, everyone. Honestly, I was a little surprised and was very humbled and honoured when I got the call about the Hall of Fame. I’ve been curling since grade 8, and it all started because a mutual friend of Craig Arsenault and myself asked us to curl in the intermediate scholastics in junior high, and we said “why not? let’s go”. We’d never thrown a rock before—but we needed another guy, so I got the new kid in school, “Eddie”, and we’ve been inseparable ever since, for the most part.
A big thanks to Ian Power who asked us to curl that first time, and all the teammates I’ve had over the years. It changed my whole life, really. The opportunities of curling were unbelievable. I got a call from my Uncle Wayne.to come up and play in a funspiel in O’Leary. To my surprise, as soon as I got there he said “you’re going to skip”. To me, that felt like the Brier, for some reason. It instilled a lot of confidence in me, very young. I just want to thank you, Wayne.
Another, along the way, the Junior nationals bronze medal – I don’t think we would have made it, if it wasn’t for our coach, Darryl Nowlan, who’s now well known nationally as a coach, and we were with him way back then. He instilled so much confidence in us. How many teams have stolen a 12th end to get to a national? Not too many. So, a big thanks to Darryl.
The curling community is unbelievable. Some of my favorite memories are just the hours we spent at the rink, throwing rocks after school, or playing one-on-one 10-end games. Those times shaped me as a curler and a person.
I also need to thank my work – I’ve worked with the same company now for 30 years, who let me take time off whatever time I needed for competitions over the years, especially Kenny Johnson—without that support, I couldn’t have pursued curling the way I did.
I just want to thank all my teammates over the years -we’ll always have the memories together. Two of my favourites, Sean and Eddie, are here tonight.
I also want to thank all the friends and supporters over the years, who just left a text here and there — “way to go, Mike”, “good luck” and all that, many extended family supporters – they’re here tonight. My Aunt’s here tonight – Priscilla, Amanda – I think everybody knows Amanda – she’s the biggest curling fan on PEI, and she was always my biggest fan.
Well, there’s just a couple more – one of the biggest supporters throughout my curling career was obviously my parents- they have been my supporters since day one, from a kid that came home, wanted to quit hockey a month before the end of the season so he could curl full time, and they just said “yeah, ok, do what you want to do”, and, the rest is history there.
I want to give another big thanks to my brother, my sister, and their families, for all their support, my niece is here tonight – thanks for coming, Jessie, and, finally, a curling career can’t be successful unless I have the support of my wife, and all the support given me over the years, so , thank-you very much, and her parents are here tonight as well – thank-you very much for coming.
I’m just gonna finish it up now – curling’s a wonderful sport – I’ve seen a lot of the country and I’m very blessed. Everyone knows I’m a baseball fan, and, in the immortal words of a very famous baseball player – I’ll paraphrase it for curling: “curling has been very good to me” – thank-you.
Al Ledgerwood:
Thanks, Mike. Well that only leaves one, Eddie MacKenzie. Eddie started curling in Summerside while in junior high school. In 1989 and 1991, he played on a team skipped by Craig Arsenault with Mike Gaudet, and eventually captured the provincial junior championship.
In 1992, the team of Mike Gaudet, Eddie Mackenzie, Tyler Harris, and John Peters won the Provincial Junior Men’s Championship and went on to the Canadian Junior Championship in Vernon, BC.
In 1994, Eddie played on Mike Gaudet’s men’s team with Evan Sullivan, Tyler Harris, and Sean Ledgerwood, winning the provincial men’s championship and competing at the Brier in Red Deer, Alberta. This was Eddie’s first Brier appearance.
He returned to the winning circle in 2011, playing third for a team skipped by a longtime PEI curler. They won the provincial men’s title and went to the Brier in London, Ontario.
In 2013, Eddie returned as skip with Anson Carmody (third), Alex MacFadyen (second), and Sean Ledgerwood (lead), winning the provincial men’s championship again.
He defended his title in 2014 with Anson Carmody, Tyler MacKenzie, and Sean Ledgerwood, competing at the Brier in Kamloops, BC.
In 2016, Eddie tried a mixed team for the provincial championship with Chloe McCloskey, Tyler Smith, and Megan Wile. They represented PEI at the national mixed event in Toronto, Ontario.
After a two-year break from provincial men’s playdowns, Eddie returned to the provincial men’s playdowns in 2017 with Sean Ledgerwood (third), Matt Nabuurs (second), and Robbie Doherty (lead), marking his fifth appearance as skip.
He defended his title in 2018 with the team of third Josh Barry, second Christopher Gallant and lead Sean Ledgerwood. They went on to compete at the Brier in Regina Saskatchewan. After finishing as provincial runners-up in 2019 and 2020, Eddie won the provincial men’s crown again in 2021 with his team of third Tyler Smith, second Sean Ledgerwood and lead Ryan Lowery, marking his seventh appearance at the Brier, this time in Calgary, Alberta.
In 2024 Eddie skipped a 5-man team of third Kevin Champion, and a front end consisting of Sean Ledgerwood, Mike Dillon, and Phil Gorveatt, to his first Provincial Senior Men’s Championship. They went on to Moncton to compete in the national event.
Eddie again won the Provincial Senior Men’s Championship in 2025 with the team of Phil Gorveatt at third, second Tyler Harris, and lead Sean Ledgerwood earning their berth at the national event in Ottawa, Ontario in December 2025.
Aside from his on-ice curling prowess, Eddie also volunteered at the Charlottetown Curling Club, spending time as both Treasurer and President.
An incredible shot maker with two Junior Men’s runners-up titles, one Junior Men’s championship, one provincial Canada Games title, three provincial men’s runner-up finishes, seven provincial men’s championships (6 as skip), one provincial mixed crown, and two provincial senior’s titles, Eddie is truly a Hall of Fame calibre curler.
Eddie, please come forward.
Eddie Mackenzie
I’d like to begin by congratulating all tonight’s inductees, especially my life-long buddy Mike. I’ve curled with about 50 different players in provincial championships – you meet a lot of great people along the way – it really does become a lifelong curling family. Mike, Craig and I started curling back in 1986 in Summerside. We spent hours after school throwing rocks every day. Mike and I even played a one-on-one 10-end game, maybe eight rocks, plus an extra end, The most talented skips I played with were Mike Gaudet and Brett Gallant – both could make any shot. At my first Brier as skip I was quoted as saying, “We’re not only curling on the wrong side of the inch — we’re on the wrong side of the foot”. That line got us handshakes from fans and even a standing ovation after the last end. After that year we became much more competitive in future Briers. Sean Ledgerwood has been to five Briers with me, and two Seniors. Without his support on and off the ice, we wouldn;t have won. His most supportive comments still make me laugh: “All skips are crazy, but Eddie’s got an extra-special dose”. I’ve been lucky to have two great coaches — Darryl Nowlan helped us nail down the fundamentals at the ’92 Juniors, and Al Ledgerwood was quite supportive. He’s been around for more than a decade and once called me “uncoachable, just uncoachable”. He may have been right, but he kept coming back year after year, to fine-tune my delivery, and I’m sure I would have retired by now without him. I also want to thank my wife Diane for all the sacrifices she made so I could keep curling, my boys James and Josh, who might not have taken to structured curling, but they sure enjoyed having the run of the Charlottetown Curling Club after hours.
Finally, thanks to the Board of Directors of the PEI Curling Hall of Fame for putting this night together – it’s a real honour to be included among the many great names in the sport.
Al Ledgerwood:
Thank you, Eddie. Your career and dedication are a shining example of PEI curling at its best. Congratulations!
The evening concluded with a social time, with everyone checking out the portraits of the inductees, drawn by Wayne Wright.
Thanks to the New Horizon’s grant program, the Daytime Committee is hosting a FREE First Aid: Procedures and Safety Training on Wednesday, November 26th.
With help from the New Horizon’s grant program, the Daytime Committee is hosting a FREE Identity Theft and Fraud Prevention Seminar for Seniors on Tuesday, November 18th at 10:00am.
Bookmark, Charlottetown’s independent bookstore, is thrilled to be welcoming Olympic Champion Jennifer Jones to Prince Edward Island for the launch of her new book Rock Star: My Life On And Off The Ice on Saturday, November 29th at 7 pm at the Cornwall Curling Club. The evening will be moderated by Robbie Doherty.
We were sad to learn of the passing of longtime member Tom Dunn this weekend and would like to offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
We are saddened to learn of the passing of John Dunsford on Sunday and would like to offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
