Four teams out of the original seven entered in the PEI Masters (age 60+) Men’s Curling Championship are still in contention at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, and will play in the “C” semi-finals at 10 am Sunday, with the winners advancing to the 2 pm C final. Defending champion Ted MacFadyen and his Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex team beat their clubmates, the Dale Cannon rink, 7-4 in the B final of the modified triple knockout draw on Saturday evening, aided by a 7th end deuce and a stolen eighth end single. The “A” section final was won by the Bill Hope rink from Charlottetown and Cornwall on Saturday morning, with a 9-4 win over MacFadyen.
This morning’s “C” semis see MacFadyen and Hope square off in one game, and Cannon take on Clair Sweet and his host club team in the other. Cannon eliminated Summerside’s Louis Walsh with an 8-5 win Saturday evening to earn the berth in the “C” semi.
The two game championship round between the winners of the 3 sections going Monday at 10 am and, if needed, 2 pm. If either MacFadyen or Hope win the C final, they would have a “double life” in the championship round and would win the title if they took either game, while their opponent would have to win both.
The defending champion Sandy Hope rink from Cornwall have won the women’s championship by default, as they were the only entry.
The Sandy Hope rink and the winning and runner-up men’s teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside.
The winning Men’s and the Sandy Hope Women’s team also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
There will be separate winners of the A and B sections of the modified triple knockout PEI Masters Men’s championship, for curlers age 60+, at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. The Bill Hope rink from Charlottetown and Cornwall beat the defending champion Ted MacFadyen foursome from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside by a 9-4 score to win the “A” final this morning, but lost 9-3 to Summerside’s Dale Cannon team this afternoon in the B semi-final, and will not advance to the 5:30 pm B final. MacFadyen won the other semi 7-2 over clubmate Louis Walsh. The other afternoon contest, in the “must win” C event, saw Clair Sweet of the host club eliminate Cornwall’s Paul Arsenault with a 6-4 win.
Master’s action (Craig Mackie photo)
Other games at 5:30, besides the MacFadyen vs Cannon “B” final will see Summerside’s Dario Zannier play Hope, and Sweet take on Walsh, with the losers eliminated from further play, and the winners advancing to the 10 am Sunday C semi-finals, against MacFadyen and Cannon, respectively. The C final goes at 2 pm Sunday, with the two game championship round between the winners of the 3 sections going Monday at 10 am and, if needed, 2 pm.
The defending champion Sandy Hope rink from Cornwall have won the women’s championship by default, as they were the only entry.
The Sandy Hope rink and the winning and runner-up men’s teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside.
The winning Men’s and the Sandy Hope Women’s team also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
PEI won two awards – with Montague’s Brooks Roche winning the Joan Mead Legacy Award and $500 scholarship, and Pat Quilty, coach of the Lauren Lenentine rink from Cornwall taking the Asham National Coaching Award for women’s teams.
Photo (Left): Coaching Mentor Bill Tschirhart (middle) with Asham National Coaching Award winners Paul Tardi (BC Men), left, and Pat Quilty (PEI Women), right.
Photo (Right): Joan Mead Legacy Award winners (includes a $500 scholarship) Brooks Roche (PEI), left, and Michelle Taylor (NL), right.
The Joan Mead Legacy Award, in honour of former CBC curling producer Mead, is selected by the event officials, and is awarded annually to a male and a female junior curler who best exemplify leadership, excellence and fair play, and recognizes community involvement, academic achievement, and volunteerism. Previous winners from PEI include Chloé McCloskey, Michelle McQuaid, and Jonathan Schut from the Cornwall Curling Club, Meaghan Hughes from the Charlottetown Curling Club, and Adam Casey from the Silver Fox.
The ASHAM Coaching Award is voted on by the coaches in the event. Quilty also won the provincial ASHAM Coaching Award for women’s teams this year.
Here is a complete list of winners:
All-Stars
(determined by shooting percentages during the round robin)
Women
First Team Skip — Hailey Armstrong, Ontario (80 per cent)
Third — Grace Holyoke, Ontario (81 per cent)
Second — Sara Oliver, Manitoba (81 per cent)
Lead — Rebecca Cormier, Manitoba (81 per cent)
Second Team Skip — Kaitlyn Jones, Saskatchewan (76 per cent)
Third — Chantele Broderson, Alberta (80 per cent)
Second — Sara Guy, Northern Ontario (80 per cent)
Lead — Shantel Hutton, Saskatchewan (80 per cent)
Men First Team
Skip — Tanner Horgan, Northern Ontario (81 per cent)
Third — Jacob Horgan, Northern Ontario (83 per cent)
Second — Joey Hart, Ontario (85 per cent)
Lead — Nicholas Rabl, Alberta (87 per cent)
Second Team Skip — Tyler Tardi, B.C. (79 per cent)
Third — Tyler Lautner, Alberta (83 per cent)
Second — Nick Bissonnette, Northern Ontario (83 per cent)
Lead — Alec Cameron, Nova Scotia (85 per cent) * In the case of a percentage tie, the all-star position goes to the player with the highest plus/minus for the week (a player receives a +1 for every game in which he/she outcurls the positional opponent by five per cent or more). Should they still be tied, the pre-event draw to the button results are used to determine the all-star.
Ken Watson Sportsmanship Awards
(voted by the players)
Women — Camille Boisvert, Quebec
Men — Nicholas Rabl, Alberta
Balance Plus Fair Play Awards
(selected by the officials)
Men
Lead — Garret Minute, Northwest Territories
Second — Graham McFarlane, Manitoba
Vice-skip — Sterling Middleton, B.C.
Skip — JT Ryan, Manitoba
Coach — Nick Kaeser, Northwest Territories
Women
Lead — Marcia Richardson, Ontario
Second —Kate Goodhelpsen, Alberta
Vice-skip — Laura Guénard, Quebec
Skip — Krysta Burns, Northern Ontario
Coach — Susan Lang, Saskatchewan
ASHAM National Coaching Awards
(voted by the coaches)
Women – Pat Quilty, Prince Edward Island
Men – Paul Tardi B.C.
Joan Mead Legacy Awards
(selected by the event officials)
($500 scholarship)
Women – Michelle Taylor, Newfoundland/Labrador
Men – Brooks Roche, Prince Edward Island
@TeamLenentine: Our last game didn’t end the way we would’ve liked but we couldn’t be more proud of the way we represented our province
@TeamSmith: 5-4 win over Ontario this morning to finish on a high note and place 6th! Thanks to everyone for such a great week in Victoria!
VICTORIA — Ten minutes after the game, there was still a look of disbelief on the face of Northern Ontario skip Krysta Burns.
Northern Ontario’s Laura Masters, left, and Sara Guy are headed to the playoffs at the 2017 Canadian Juniors. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
The 20-year-old science student — skipping a team full of science students — had just beaten Prince Edward Island’s Lauren Lenentine (Cornwall) in the final round-robin draw of the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples, to clinch a semifinal berth with a 7-3 record, and was still coming to grips with what her Sudbury team had just accomplished.
“It’s kinda hard to breathe,” marvelled Burns. “We knew it could be a possibility, but we knew it would be tough, so the fact that we got this far is incredible. We know all the teams here are so good, so to be in the top of this amazing field is just incredible. It feels wicked.”
That’s a feeling shared by many today in the north country of Ontario; it’s the first time since the Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Championships were combined in 1987 that two Northern Ontario teams have made the playoffs; 2016 silver-medallist Tanner Horgan and his team from Copper Cliff also will play in the semifinal on Saturday after a 6-3 win over New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (Saint John).
“It really is a great time to be a Northern Ontario curler,” said Burns, who will take on Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (Edmonton) in the women’s semi Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (all times PST). “Sometimes we have our naysayers, but we’ve clearly proven that we belong here, and that we’re all good teams that can be at the top of the field.”
“This is absolutely huge,” added Horgan, whose team will play in the men’s semi Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of a 2 p.m. Friday tiebreaker between Ontario’s Matthew Hall (Kitchener) and Manitoba’s JT Ryan (Winnipeg) after the teams finished deadlocked for the third and final men’s playoff berth. “I can’t remember the last time when we had both teams in the playoffs. This is great for our junior teams back home. And I hope it can help build the programs.”
The semifinal winners will advance to Sunday’s gold-medal games against the round-robin pool winners: Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (Ottawa) will be in the women’s final at 9 a.m., while B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (Langley/New Westminster) will play in the men’s final at 1:30 p.m.
The Northern Ontario women have a bit of a break now in the schedule before the semifinal, so perhaps there will be some time spent on schoolwork. All four players study science at Laurentian University — Burns is majoring in forensic science; vice-skip Megan Smith studies biomedical biology; second Sara Guy is enrolled in the nursing program; and lead Laura Masters takes biochemistry.
“We’ve been trying to do school work, but our school workload and curling workload have been difficult to manage,” said Burns with a laugh. “But clearly we’re doing something right.”
In other women’s results Friday morning, Ontario completed a perfect round robin with a 7-3 win over Alberta; Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (Regina) was a 7-3 winner over B.C.’s Corryn Brown (Kamloops); and Nova Scotia’s Kristin Clarke (Chester) toppled Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (Lévis) 11-4.
In men’s play, B.C. knocked off Manitoba 9-7, Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith (Charlottetown) scored two in the 10th end for a 5-4 win over Ontario; Alberta’s Colton Goller (Calgary) scored two in the extra end for a 6-4 win over Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (Halifax); and Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Blyde (St. John’s) beat Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter (Saskatoon) 11-3.
The non-playoff teams will compete in a mixed doubles tournament Saturday and Sunday.
TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide live and exclusive coverage of the women?s and men?s semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday. The same games also will be streamed live in the U.S. on ESPN3.
The winning teams Sunday will represent Canada at the 2017 VoIP Defender World Junior Championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea.
The Bill Hope rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex and the Cornwall Curling Club, and the defending champion Ted MacFadyen team from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex are both undefeated after opening day play at the men’s Curl PEI Masters Curling Championship being played at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, and have advanced to the “A” section finals at 9:30 am Saturday. Seven men’s rinks are taking part. The women’s title was won by default by the defending champion Sandy Hope rink from Cornwall – the only entry. Masters curlers are age 60 and over.
Hope blanked the Silver Fox rink skipped by Dario Zannier 8-0 in his opener, and then beat another Fox team, captained by Louis Walsh, in his second game to advance to the A section final of the modified triple knockout draw. MacFadyen beat Clair Sweet and his host club team 5-2 in the first draw, and doubled Dale Cannon of the Silver Fox 8-4 in his second match to go to the A section final.
Walsh defeated Silver Fox clubmate Des Arsenault in his opener to advance to the game against Hope. Stuart Graves moved up to skip the Zannier rink in game 2, and pulled out a 7-2 win over Sweet in B pool action this afternoon.
With the “modified” triple knockout format, the section winners and runners-up drop down to compete in the next section. It’s Sweet vs Walsh, and Graves vs Cannon in 9:30 am B pool action on Saturday, with the Sweet/Walsh winner playing MacFadyen and 1:30 pm, and the Cannon/Graves winner taking on Walsh at the same time. The winners advance to the “B” section final at 5:30 Saturday.
The “C” semi-finals and final go Sunday at 10 am and 2 pm. If a team wins all three sections, the event will end then. If not, the section finalists advance to the championship round on Monday, also at 10 and, if needed, 2 pm.
Winning and runner-up teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside.
The winning Men’s and Women’s teams also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
The PEI Masters Curling Championships, with Men’s and Women’s divisions for curlers age 60 and over, take place from Jan. 27-30 at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. Defending champs are the Sandy Hope women’s rink from the Cornwall Curling Club and the Ted MacFadyen team from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside. There was only one women’s entry, so there will be no women’s playdown, and the Sandy Hope rink will repeat as women’s champions. The MacFadyen rink is back this year as one of the seven men’s rinks entered.
Winning and runner-up teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside.
The winning Men’s and Women’s teams also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
Explanation for MA/MB:
1. One team wins all three qualifiers: Championship Round is not required.
2. One team wins two qualifiers. They play in both X and Z (and win the event if they win either game), the other winner plays in Y (and has to win both games).
3. Three separate winners: the team that played in the most qualifying games* plays in Z and the other winners play off in X and Y. If there is a tie in number of qualifying games played, then the team that qualified earliest goes to Z and the other two teams play off in X and Y.
*Qualifying games are in yellow on the schedule
Men’s Draw Tree
Draw tree will NOT be updated during event – refer to Live Scoring for updated draw tree.
It will be nearly three days before Hailey Armstrong’s Ontario team plays for a Canadian junior women’s championship.
Team Ontario had a group hug after Thursday’s win that clinched a berth in Sunday’s gold-medal game.(Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
Between now and that 9 a.m. (all times PST) gold-medal game on Sunday at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, Armstrong, vice-skip Grace Holyoke, second Lindsay Dubue, lead Marcia Richardson and coach Bill Rogers will be doing their best to find some distractions to take their mind off what will be at stake.
The first distraction: a long-awaited feed of butter chicken.
“It’s kind of a team tradition,” explained the 20-year-old Armstrong with a smile “They’ve (coach and parents) been dangling this carrot for, like, four days now.”
Suffice it to say, Armstrong and her teammates earned it on Thursday afternoon; a 6-2 win over Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (4-5; Regina) clinched first place in the championship pool round robin at the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples, and nailed down a trip to Sunday’s final.
“It feels really good,” said Armstrong, who took advantage of a key miss from Jones in the sixth end to score three and never looked back. “Everyone played really well, and we’ve been playing really well all week. I just hope we’re going to keep it up.”
Behind Ontario, the race is truly on for the two semifinal berths that remain up for grabs. Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (6-2; Alberta) is in the driver’s seat while there are three three-loss teams behind her: Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (6-3; Lévis), 2013 Canadian junior champ Corryn Brown (5-3; Kamloops) and Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (5-3; Sudbury).
B.C. picked up a big win, and eliminated the reigning Canadian and world champs from Nova Scotia in the process. B.C. scored two in the 10th end for a 7-6 win over Nova Scotia’s Kristin Clarke (3-5; Chester).
Northern Ontario’s Jacob Horgan delivers his shot. (Photo, Curling Canada/Bob Vanderford)
In the other championship round game, Quebec capped a clutch two-victory day by scoring a deuce in the ninth end and stealing three in the 10th for a 10-5 victory over Prince Edward Island’s Lauren Lenentine (4-5; Cornwall).
Ontario, meanwhile, can complete its round-robin assignments on Friday morning against Alberta pressure-free and then start prep work for the gold-medal game, in which a trip to the World Junior Championships will be on the line.
“We’ll probably come for practice on Saturday,” said Armstrong. “And we’ll do some things when we’re not curling. We’ve been to the wharf to see the seals and things like that. And we might go to the (Royal B.C.) Museum as well.”
And there may be a conversation about re-setting the team goals. During a pre-event text-message conversation back in Ontario, the team came up with a big one that has since been accomplished.
“We wanted to at least make it to the championship round,” said Armstrong. “We’ve made that goal, and now the next goal is to win the final.”
Men’s championship round teams carried with them only their record against their fellow championship-round qualifiers into the second phase of the event; that was the result of having two uneven pools due to the Yukon not sending a men’s team.
In the women’s championship round, the teams’ overall records still stand because the two pools were even in number.
In men’s championship-round play, Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan (3-2, 5-2 overall; Copper Cliff) boosted his playoff hopes with an 8-3 victory over P.E.I.’s Tyler Smith (1-4; 4-4 overall); also, Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (3-3; 5-3 overall; Halifax) stayed in the hunt by doubling New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (1-5; 3-6 overall; Saint John) 8-4.
The teams that didn’t advance to the championship round are playing in a seeding round to determine final rankings.
In women’s seeding round games, Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (St. John’s) beat Nunavut’s Sadie Pinksen (Iqaluit) 10-2; and Manitoba’s Laura Burtnyk (Winnipeg) prevailed 11-2 over the Yukon’s Alyssa Meger (Whitehorse).
In men’s seeding round action, Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Blyde (St. John’s) turned back Sawer Kaeser of the Northwest Territories (Fort Smith) 9-3; and Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter beat Nunavut’s Arthur Siksik (Rankin Inlet) 13-2.
Play concludes at the 2017 Canadian Juniors on Thursday with a draw at 7:15 p.m. (all times Pacific).
The top three teams at the conclusion of the championship rounds will go into the playoffs. The second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals on Saturday (women at 1:30 p.m.; men at 5:30 p.m. All times Pacific), with the winners moving into the championship finals against the first-place teams. The women’s gold-medal game is at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s gold-medal game at 1:30 p.m.
The non-playoff teams will compete in a mixed doubles tournament Saturday and Sunday.
TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide live and exclusive coverage of the women?s and men?s semifinals on Saturday, Jan. 28, and finals on Sunday, Jan. 29. The same games also will be streamed live in the U.S. on ESPN3.
The winning teams Sunday will represent Canada at the 2017 VoIP Defender World Junior Championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea.
Team Quebec took a seaplane tour of the Victoria area earlier this week. (Photo, courtesy Camille Boisvert)
The 21-year-old skip and her Quebec teammates from Lévis took advantage of a break in their busy schedule to go on a charter floatplane tour of Victoria and southern Vancouver Island.
“It was really fun; it was very pretty and it was like a team meeting, too,” said Boisvert with a smile. “It was very cool.”
Sometimes, as Boisvert, vice-skip Laura Guénard, second Émilia Gagné, lead Isabelle Thiboutot and coach Michel Blais are experiencing this week, it’s not always about the destination; the journey counts for something, too.
Undoubtedly, seeing the sights outside of the Archie Browning Sports Sports Centre has helped the Quebec team relax in a high-pressure competition, and perhaps that played a role on Thursday morning as Boisvert made a crucial draw to score the winning point in the 11th end of a championship showdown with Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones of Regina.
The dramatic 8-7 win put Quebec at 5-3, tied for the third and final playoff position with Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (Sudbury).
Saskatchewan, meanwhile, dropped to 4-4 and in need of some help to reach the weekend playoffs.
“Throwing that last shot? I was pretty nervous,” admitted Boisvert with a laugh. “Of course, the cold temperature out here didn’t help. I was shaking the whole game. I was nervous, too, but I kept my calm and just threw it. I’m confident with our sweepers, I let them brush it and it happened.”
That came on the heels of a marvellous shot by Jones in the 10th — an angle-runback to remove a Quebec stone from the top of the button and score a game-tying single.
“She made the perfect shot in the 10th end,” said Boisvert, who also skipped Quebec at the 2014 Canadian Juniors in Liverpool, N.S. “We just said that we have to control only the things we can control; obviously, we couldn’t control her shot. She made it perfect, and congrats to her. But we said we did everything right in the 10th end; just come back and do the same thing, and it was a perfect extra end. We had a good attitude.”
Northern Ontario kept its playoff hopes alive with a 9-4 win over Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (Edmonton), stealing one in the fourth and three more in the fifth. Alberta, 6-2, remained alone in second place.
On top of the women’s championship round standings is Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (Ottawa), who improved to 8-0 and clinched a playoff spot in the process with a 5-4 extra-end win over Prince Edward Island’s Lauren Lenentine (4-4; Cornwall).
On the men’s side, B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (Langley/New Westminster) continues to set the pace in the championship round. He improved to 5-0 (6-1 overall) with an 11-8 win over Alberta’s Colton Goller (1-4, 4-4 overall; Calgary).
Men’s championship round teams carried with them only their record against their fellow championship-round qualifiers into the second phase of the event; that was the result of having two uneven pools due to the Yukon not sending a men’s team.
In the women’s championship round, the teams’ overall records still stand because the two pools were even in number.
B.C. is now assured of a tiebreaker berth thanks to the victory.
Manitoba’s JT Ryan, meanwhile, moved closer to clinching a playoff berth with a 7-5 win over Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel. Ryan’s Winnipeg foursome improved to 4-1 (7-1 overall) while Manuel (Halifax) dropped to 2-3 (4-3 overall).
In the other championship round men’s game, Ontario’s Matthew Hall (3-2, 5-2 overall; Kitchener) was a 9-4 winner over New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (1-4, 3-5 overall; Saint John).
NWT skip Sawer Kaeser was getting the low-down on his shot. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
The teams that didn’t advance to the championship round are playing in a seeding round to determine final rankings.
In women’s seeding round play, Zoey Walsh of the Northwest Territories (Hay River) scored two in the 10th end for a 9-8 win over Nunavut’s Sadie Pinksen (Iqaluit).
In men’s seeding round games, Sawer Kaeser of the Northwest Territories (Fort Smith) bounced Nunavut’s Arthur Siksik (Rankin Inlet) 11-7 and Quebec’s Vincent Roberge (Lévis) was a 12-4 winner over Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter (Saskatoon).
Play continues at the 2017 Canadian Juniors on Thursday with draws at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times Pacific).
The top three teams at the conclusion of the championship rounds will go into the playoffs. The second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals on Saturday (women art 1:30 p.m.; men at 5:30 p.m. All times Pacific), with the winners moving into the championship finals against the first-place teams. The women’s gold-medal game is at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s gold-medal game at 1:30 p.m.
The non-playoff teams will compete in a mixed doubles tournament Saturday and Sunday.
TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide live and exclusive coverage of the women?s and men?s semifinals on Saturday, Jan. 28, and finals on Sunday, Jan. 29. The same games also will be streamed live in the U.S. on ESPN3.
The winning teams Sunday will represent Canada at the 2017 VoIP Defender World Junior Championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea.
The adult Getting Started League, which rotates weekly between the Charlottetown and Cornwall clubs is in Cornwall this Thursday night, from 8:30-10pm.
It is still not too late to join. If you are interested, please be at the club before 8:30. This is the last week that new members will be permitted to join. For more info, contact Amy Duncan at aduncan@sportpei.pe.ca.
It’s playoff time for the PEI rinks at the Canadian Juniors in Victoria BC.
Photo: Lauren Lenentine
In women’s championship round play Wednesday, Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (7-0; Kitchener) remained perfect with a 5-3 win over Nova Scotia’s Kristin Clarke (3-4; Chester) to clinch a tiebreaker berth; Prince Edward Island’s Lauren Lenentine (4-3; Cornwall) scored two in the ninth end for a 6-4 win over B.C.’s Corryn Brown (4-3; Kamloops); and Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (6-1; Edmonton) knocked off Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (4-3; Lévis) 7-5.
PEI women play Ontario and Quebec on Thursday.
PEI’s Tyler Smith plays their first championship round game at 11 p.m. Pacific, against Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel. The Island squad faces Northern Ont. and BC on Thursday.
The top three teams at the conclusion of the championship rounds will go into the playoffs. The second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals on Saturday (women art 1:30 p.m.; men at 5:30 p.m. All times Pacific), with the winners moving into the championship finals against the first-place teams. The women’s gold-medal game is at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s gold-medal game at 1:30 p.m.
In honour of Robbie Burns Day, lets flash back to January 2013, when the Cornwall Curling Club hosted the Scottish male curlers, on the Island for the Strathcona Cup Tour. What a fun day we had!
Be sure to check out the videos of Roddie MacLean addressing the haggis, and of one of our Scottish visitors, upon hearing that Club member Danny Kneabone was a milkman, giving a hilarious rendition of “Ernie the Milkman”.
The Strathcona Cup Tour rolled into Cornwall on Saturday, with the Scottish curlers arriving by bus, and being greeted by the Cornwall curlers as they entered the building, with our team holding their brooms up in the traditional “Canopy of Brooms”.
After changing, and singing a couple of rousing songs, the Scots were ready to take to our ice!
The piper was busy today, piping the Scots into the building, piping the teams onto the ice, and later on piping both the head table, and the Haggis into the building for the Robbie Burns dinner.
It was time to “pay the piper”, with Myriam MacLean providing a toast with a “wee dram” of Scotland’s finest to our piper, Brady Singleton.
Gordon Lank, one of the organizers, who had also been on an earlier Scottish tour, threw out the ceremonial first rock, which Jim Farquharson and Roddie MacLean, from the 2009 tour to Scotland were able to sweep to the button.
It was game time, with the Scots quickly adjusting to our ice conditions, which they (as indicated by many of the scores!) found to be excellent.
The tremendous efforts put in by both sides made it necessary to take a “Fireball” break after the fourth end, before heading back to the ice for the final half.
By the time that the last rocks were thrown, the quality of the Scots’ curling became evident, as we did not manage to win any of the games. Our team on ice 3, skipped by Ernie Stavert, had a chance to win, needing a hit and stick on the last rock to count two, but we didn’t quite make it, and the Scots took the victory.
After changing into our “Sunday best” and drowning our sorrows with a few drinks, everybody got ready for the next event, the “Shuck in”.
Here’s a photo of the team that took on the Ernie Stavert foursome, waiting in anticipation for the oysters:
(L-R) Don Rutherford (lead), Dave Munroe, Willie Nicoll, Alastair Smith (skip).
Here’s the oysters, provided and expertly shucked by Leslie Hardy of Leslie Hardy and Sons Ltd. (he also curled in the event)
Here’s the Smith rink downing their oysters during the Shuck in Ceremony:
Here’s another team, chasing the oysters with a shot of Island Shine. Some of the reactions from some of the teams were priceless (and unprintable!).
None other than the PEI Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Rural Development (and local MLA) Ronnie MacKinley was on hand to present the Scottish curlers with their certificates deeming them to be loyal members of the PEI Oyster Society, along with a T-shirt.
Here’s a shot of event chairman Jim Farquharson, along with oyster provider Leslie Hardy, and the Honourable Ron MacKinley and his assistant Valerie Acorn.
It was now time for dinner, with the Cornwall teams and their opponents lining up at their respective tables. Here’s the Craig Mackie rink and their Scottish counterparts pausing for a photo op.
The head table guests were piped in and took their seats.
The haggis was also piped in.
The important task of Addressing the Haggis fell upon Roddie MacLean, who did a fantastic job. We have a video:
It was time for the meal. First course was a hearty beef barley soup:
The main course included Gordie Lank’s excellent Roast Tenderloin of Prince Edward Island Prime Beef, along with a traditional “Robbie Burns” dinner of the Haggis, PEI Potatoes, and Turnip Puff (“neeps and tatties”), and peas.
Dessert was cake and icecream.
It looks like the head table are enjoying it. Ronnie MacKinley told us that it was “the best meal he’d ever had”!
Before the speeches, Scotsman Keith Henderson did a hilarious comic recitation about a milkman, with the rest of the Scots joining in the refrain.
Welcoming speeches were then given by Minister MacKinley, Cornwall Mayor Glen Fullerton, Curl PEI President George Koke, who is also president of the Montague Curling Club, where the Scots had curled in the morning, and reportedly won all but one game, and Cornwall Curling Club vice-president Paul Neima.
East Tour Captain Willie Nicoll responded elequently to all the speeches, presenting ties to most of the speakers and “the Quaich,” a traditional two-handled Scottish “friendship” drinking cup to Paul Neima, who then filled it with the appropriate liquid and shared it with the Scots.
Following a few more impromptu speeches, it was time for the entertainment. A woman (who bore a slight resemblance to Shirley Lank) appeared out of nowhere, and told a few jokes.
Everyone then moved to the fireplace area for some entertainment, led by musicians Todd MacLean (Roddie and Myriam’s son) and Aaron Crane.
A little “olde tyme” PEI dancing ensued:
The Scots then took the stage, and led everyone in the singing of some well-known Scottish songs.
Finally, with Todd on the saxophone, the Scots and the Canadians clasped hands and sang Auld Lang Syne, as the evening wrapped up, and the Scots headed to the bus for another busy day on Sunday in Crapaud and Moncton.
Thanks to everyone who made this event a success, including the curlers from both Canada and Scotland, the Strathcona Cup Tour Organizing Committee, Lance Lowther and the ice crew, the Club staff, the volunteers and local organizers including Jim and Diane Farquharson, Roddie and Myriam MacLean, Gordie and Shirley Lank, the kitchen crew including three generations of the Lank family, Karen Currie, Ruth Stavert and others, the Culinary Institute of Canada/Holland College for preparing the Haggis, Curl PEI for helping out with the event program, and a long list of sponsors including ADL, Countryview Golf Club, Egg Farmers of PEI, Island Abbey Foods (makers of Honibe), Jewelldale Farm, Leslie Hardy and Sons, office of the Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Rural Development, Murphy’s Cornwall Pharmacy, PEI Department of Tourism and Culture, Phillips Suzuki, PEI Potato Board, PEI Preserve Co, Sam’s Family Restaurant – Cornwall, the Town of Cornwall, and W.P. Griffin Inc.
Here’s our photo gallery of the event:
Click on a photo to display larger version. Use the arrows to move back and forth between pictures.
When Kristin Clarke and her Nova Scotia team gave up four points in the sixth end to Manitoba’s Laura Burtnyk on Tuesday night, she was in the very odd position of considering that outcome extremely favourable.
Team Nova Scotia kept its title-repeat hopes alive with a crucial win Tuesday night. (Photo, Curling Canada/Bob Vanderford)
The alternative? Quite likely a very real shot at an oh-so-rare perfect eight-ender for Burtnyk.
Instead, Clarke made arguably the most clutch shot to date of the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples — a perfect freeze into a pocket of Manitoba stones that left Manitoba sitting only three. Burtnyk would make the draw for four to take a 6-4 lead. But the reigning Canadian and world champion Nova Scotia foursome arguably had more reasons to celebrate.
There were even more reasons an hour later as Nova Scotia would score a go-ahead three in the eighth end, hold Manitoba to one in the ninth and score the winning point in the 10th for an 8-7 triumph that kept its fleeting hopes alive for back-to-back national titles.
“Unfortunately giving up four (in the sixth end) was the best-case scenario for us. At that point, it was basically give up four or give up eight. And we opted to give up four,” said a relieved Clarke, whose team hails from Chester. “Honestly, I was pretty pumped up. We knew that if we could force them to four, as silly as that sounds, we’d still be right in it, down two with hammer. So I was like, let’s make this, let’s go.”
Photo: Lauren Lenentine
They did, and as a result, Nova Scotia will play Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (St. John’s) at 9 a.m. (all times Pacific) Wednesday in one of two tiebreakers to decide the final entries into the women’s championship round. The teams finished with 3-3 records in Pool A, tied with Prince Edward Island’s Lauren Lenentine (Cornwall), but P.E.I. got the berth based on beating both Atlantic Canada rivals.
There will also be a Pool B tiebreaker Wednesday at 9 a.m. between Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (3-3; Sudbury) and New Brunswick’s Samantha Crook (3-3; Fredericton).
It’s been a struggle for the Bluenosers, who have had to adjust to life without skip Mary Fay, who guided the team to the national and world titles last season.
But Clarke feels the team is finally rounding into form.
“We’re stil fighting; we’re picking up some momentum, so if we can keep rolling with the wins, we’ll definitely still be in it,” said Clarke, 19. “It’s been a struggle; we started off slow and we’re just getting there now. It’s too bad we couldn’t start with this momentum, but we’re getting there. And I think we play well when we’re under pressure — that’s where we thrive.”
The tiebreaker teams will be looking to join the six teams who advanced Wednesday night. From Pool A: Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (5-1; Edmonton), Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (4-2; Regina) and P.E.I. From Pool B: Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (6-0; Ottawa), B.C.’s Corryn Brown (4-2; Kamloops) and Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (4-2; Lévis).
The women’s teams will carry over their records from the preliminary rounds.
In other women’s results Wednesday night, Streifel made a wonderful double takeout in the 11th end for a 5-4 Alberta win over Saskatchewan; Zoey Walsh of the Northwest Territories (1-5; Hay River) picked up her first win, stealing one in the 10th and two in the 11th for a 7-5 win over Newfoundland/Labrador; Quebec turned back New Brunswick 8-5; and Ontario was a 9-6 winner over the Yukon’s Alyssa Meger (0-6; Whitehorse).
The teams that don’t advance into the championship round will be in a seeding round to determine the pools for the 2018 Canadian Juniors in Shawinigan, Que.
On the men’s side, there will be no tiebreakers, but because the Yukon didn’t send a men’s team, the pools weren’t balanced. So, the teams moving into the championship round carry forward only their record against the teams that come with them into the championship round.
Advancing from Pool A were: Manitoba’s JT Ryan (6-0; Winnipeg), P.E.I.’s Tyler Smith (4-2; Charlottetown), Alberta’s Colton Goller (4-2; Calgary) and New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (3-3; Saint John). Moving on from Pool B were: B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (4-1; Langley/New Westminster), Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (3-2; Halifax); Ontario’s Matthew Hall (3-2; Kitchener) and Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan (3-2; Copper Cliff).
In men’s games Wednesday, Manitoba shaded New Brunswick 8-7, Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter (2-3; Saskatoon) downed B.C. 7-4, Quebec’s Vincent Roberge (2-4; Lévis) turned back Sawer Kaeser of the Northwest Territories (0-6; Fort Smith) 10-1; and Ontario was a 13-1 winner over Nunavut’s Arthur Siksik (0-6; Rankin Inlet).
Once the tiebreaker round is done, games in the men’s and women’s championship and seeding rounds are scheduled Wednesday for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The top three teams at the conclusion of the championship rounds will go into the playoffs. The second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals on Saturday (women art 1:30 p.m.; men at 5:30 p.m. All times Pacific), with the winners moving into the championship finals against the first-place teams. The women’s gold-medal game is at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s gold-medal game at 1:30 p.m.
TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide live and exclusive coverage of the women?s and men?s semifinals on Saturday, Jan. 28, and finals on Sunday, Jan. 29. The same games also will be streamed live in the U.S. on ESPN3.
The winning teams Sunday will represent Canada at the 2017 VoIP Defender World Junior Championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea.
The PEI Masters Curling Championships, with Men’s and Women’s divisions for curlers age 60 and over, take place from Jan. 27-30 at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. Defending champs are the Sandy Hope women’s rink from the Cornwall Curling Club and the Ted MacFadyen team from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside. There was only one women’s entry, so there will be no women’s playdown, and the Sandy Hope rink will repeat as women’s champions. The MacFadyen rink are back this year as one of the seven men’s rinks entered.
Winning and runner-up teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside.
The winning Men’s and Women’s teams also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
Explanation for MA/MB:
1. One team wins all three qualifiers: Championship Round is not required.
2. One team wins two qualifiers. They play in both X and Z (and win the event if they win either game), the other winner plays in Y (and has to win both games).
3. Three separate winners: the team that played in the most qualifying games* plays in Z and the other winners play off in X and Y. If there is a tie in number of qualifying games played, then the team that qualified earliest goes to Z and the other two teams play off in X and Y.
P.E.I. skip Tyler Smith shouts directions to his sweepers as Manitoba skip JT Ryan looks on. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
When JT Ryan needs some strategy advice, suffice it to say he’s got some pretty decent options.
His dad, Jeff, is a world curling champion, having thrown third rocks for Kerry Burtnyk’s 1995 Manitoba team.
His uncle, Pat, is a two-time world curling champ, having skipped the winning team in 1989 (known popularly as the Ryan Express) and then doing it again as a third for Rick Folk five years later.
So, JT — who gives the best advice?
“More my dad. But he’s usually the one to tell me when I do something stupid; he’ll let me know after the game,” said the laughing 19-year-old skip, who has his Manitoba team at 5-0 at the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples, after a 7-5 win over Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith (4-2; Charlottetown) on Tuesday at the Archie Browning Sports Centre.. “I don’t really see Pat too often because he lives in B.C., but the talks I have with him are good.”
Ryan, backed up by third Jacques Gauthier (son of three-time Scotties champ Cathy Gauthier), second Graham McFarlane, lead Brendan Bilawka and coach John Lund, has the Manitobans in good shape heading to the championship round, which begins Wednesday; a win Tuesday night against New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (3-2; Saint John) would give the Manitobans a 3-0 record against the teams that will accompany them into the championship round.
“They’d (P.E.I.) only lost once going into that one, so it was pretty big for us to get ready for the championship round and not have that loss on our record,” said Ryan. “Our first goal was to make the championship round; now that we’ve done that, we’ll focus on getting out of the championship round (and into the playoffs). Just one step at a time.”
JT (the initials stand for John Thomas; “I don’t like the name John; that’s about it,” explained Ryan) lives and breathes curling — hardly surprising, considering his lineage. He’s an ice technician at his home club, the Assiniboine Memorial in Winnipeg, and his sister Hailey, is throwing third rocks for Manitoba’s Laura Burtnyk (yes, Kerry’s daughter) in the women’s division.
And, yeah, there’s that famous last name.
“When I’m throwing, I can’t see the name so it doesn’t matter to me,” said Ryan, who, unlike his dad and uncle, delivers from the port side. “The name is obviously meaningful, but it doesn’t add any pressure to me. All the names out here are pretty recognizable names from Manitoba, and it’s pretty cool that we’re all out here.”
Manitoba, P.E.I., New Brunswick and Alberta’sColton Goller (Calgary; 4-2) are through to the championship round from Pool A. In Pool B, B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (4-0; Langley/New Westminster), Northern Ontario’s Jacob Horgan (3-2; Copper Cliff) and Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (3-2; Halifax) are through, while Ontario’s Matthew Hall (2-2; Kitchener) needs a win over Nunavut’s Arthur Siksik (0-4; Rankin Inlet) to be the eighth and final championship round men’s qualifier.
In other men’s games Tuesday afternoon, Nova Scotia beat Nunavut 14-2, Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Blyde (2-4; St. John’s) turned back Sawer Kaeser of the Northwest Territories (0-5; Fort Smith) 7-5, and Alberta knocked off New Brunswick 11-6.
In women’s play, Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (3-2; St. John’s) took a big step toward the championship round with a 7-6 win over Manitoba (2-3; Winnipeg).
Newfoundland/Labrador will move on with a win over Zoey Walsh of the Northwest Territories (0-5; Hay River) later Tuesday.
In other women’s games, B.C.’s Corryn Brown (4-2; Kamloops) was a 14-3 winner over Nunavut’s Sadie Pinksen (1-5; Iqaluit); P.E.I.’s Lauren Lenentine (3-3; Cornwall) beat the NWT 9-6; and Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (3-3; Sudbury) rolled past Samantha Crook of New Brunswick (3-2; Fredericton).
There will be tiebreakers Wednesday at 9 a.m to decide the final two qualifiers for the women’s championship round.
Should Newfoundland/Labrador beat the Territories, the Easterners will join Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (4-1; Regina) and Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (4-1; Edmonton) in the championship round out of Pool A while P.E.I. will meet the winner of Tuesday night’s game between Manitoba and defending Canadian and world champ Kristin Clarke of Nova Scotia (2-3; Halifax).
In Pool B, Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (5-0; Ottawa) and B.C. have advanced, while the loser of Tuesday night’s game between New Brunswick and Camille Boisvert (3-2; Lévis) will play Northern Ontario for the final berth.
For the women, the 14 teams are split into two seven-team pools. The top four in each pool advance to the championship round, carrying forward their full won-lost records, while the other teams play in a seeding round to determine the pools for the 2018 Juniors in Shawinigan, Que.
For the men, since Yukon is not represented this year, they are split into one seven-team and one six-team pool. Following the round robin within their pool, the top four teams in each advance to the championship round but will carry forward only their won-lost records amongst the qualifiers.
Action at the 2017 Canadian Juniors concludes Tuesday with a draw 7 p.m. (All times PST)..
The signup sheet is now up, with closing date of Feb. 10 for our Club’s playdowns for the Travelers Curling Club Championships, which take place the weekend of February 17-19. The winning men’s and women’s champions advance to the provincial Travelers, March 10-14 at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton. The provincial winners go to the 2017 Travelers Curling Club Championship, Nov. 20-25 at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club in Kingston.
For more info on our Club’s playdowns, contact Kimberley MacDonald at kimberleym@eastlink.ca
New Brunswick skip Samantha Crook, right, watches as sweepers Kayla Russell, left, and Danielle Hubbard go to work. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
But unofficially, there’s a fifth member — Crook’s late older brother Cody — and that team is looking like a playoff contender through three days of action at the Archie Browning Sports Centre.
Just over a year ago, during the 2016 New Brunswick Junior Championships, Cody passed away at the age of 24 after a long struggle with cancer.
It happened two hours before Crook’s team was to go for a third straight win at the 2016 provincials. A family meeting ensued, and it was decided that Samantha should keep on playing.
Samantha Crook shows off the team jacket with the name of her late brother stitched on the inside. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
“It’s what he would have wanted,” said Crook, a 19-year-old University of New Brunswick student. “And I was thinking about my team, too; I didn’t want to leave them high and dry. I know they would have understood, but they were so supportive. They really helped me through it. Cody didn’t curl, but he always supported me.”
The team would play six more games, finally losing to Justine Comeau in the final.
“It’s kind of a blur,” admitted Crook. “I’m a bit surprised we did as well as we did. It was mostly my team.”
A year later, though, the three remaining players — Crook, vice-skip Julia Hunter and lead Kayla Russell (second Danielle Hubbard is new this season) — were, quite simply, on a mission.
With Cody never far from their minds, Crook, Hunter, Hubbard and Russell ran the table in the Papa John’s Pizza New Brunswick championship, winning six straight.
And here in Victoria, the team has played superbly — the latest evidence an emphatic 9-6 win over former Canadian junior champ Corryn Brown and her B.C. team on Monday night to improve to 3-1 and take a step closer to qualifying for the championship round.
Tyler Smith’s P.E.I. team knocked off Alberta on Monday night. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
B.C. had taken control early by scoring four in the second end, but that didn’t deter New Brunswick, which came back with single points in the next two ends, a steal of three in the fifth end and one more in the sixth.
That kind of response from Crook doesn’t surprise coach John Corbin.
“Strong,” said an emotional Corbin, referring to her performance last year under obviously trying circumstances. “I’ve coached her for her whole junior career. Strong. I had to hold her when it was over. She was broken.”
She is no longer, and the team is closer than ever to achieving its curling dreams — doing so wearing New Brunswick jackets with the name “Cody” stitched in a bright yellow on the inside.
“I didn’t know it was going to happen,” said Crook. “It meant a lot to see Cody’s name on our jackets. It just goes to show how much they care; we’re more like a family than a team. And it feels like he’s with me. He’d be happy to see me here.”
In other women’s play Monday, Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (Ottawa) ran her win streak to five with a 6-4 win over Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (3-2; Lévis); the win clinched a berth out of Pool A into the championship round for Ontario.
Nunavut’s Kaitlin MacDonald, left, and Christianne West share a laugh. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
In Pool B, Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (4-1; Regina) also clinched a championship round berth with an 11-2 win over Zoey Walsh of the Northwest Territories (0-4; Hay River).
Elsewhere, P.E.I.’s Lauren Lenentine (2-3; Cornwall) toppled Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (2-2; St. John’s) 8-7; and Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (2-3; Sudbury) was a 7-3 winner over Nunavut’s Sadie Pinksen (1-4; Iqaluit).
In men’s games, four teams in Pool A — Manitoba’s JT Ryan (4-0; Winnipeg), P.E.I.’s Tyler Smith (4-1; Charlottetown), New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (3-1; Saint John) and Alberta’s Colton Goller (3-2; Calgary) — have clinched championship round berths.
On Monday night, P.E.I. was a 9-6 winner over Alberta, getting steals of one in the ninth and two in the 10th en route to the victory.
Elsewhere, Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (2-2; Halifax) kept his playoff hopes alive with a 6-5 win over Ontario’s Matthew Hall (2-2; Kitchener), thanks to a 10th-end deuce.
Also, Quebec’s Vincent Roberge (1-4; Lévis) hit the win column with a 7-6 triumph over Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Blyde (1-4; St. John’s).
For the women, the 14 teams are split into two seven-team pools. The top four in each pool advance to the championship round, carrying forward their full won-lost records, while the other teams play in a seeding round to determine the pools for the 2018 Juniors in Shawinigan, Que.
For the men, since Yukon is not represented this year, they are split into one seven-team and one six-team pool. Following the round robin within their pool, the top four teams in each advance to the championship round but will carry forward only their won-lost records amongst the qualifiers.
Action at the 2017 Canadian Juniors continues Tuesday with draws at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (All times PST).
Entries have now closed for the PEI Credit Unions Provincial Seniors Curling Championships, with men’s and women’s divisions for curlers 50 years of age and over, which take place February 10-14 at the Charlottetown Curling Complex. Four men’s and four women’s rinks have signed up, including one men’s and two women’s rinks from the Cornwall Curling Club.
Defending champions are the Rod MacDonald and Kim Dolan rinks from this year’s host curling facility. MacDonald, and Mark O’Rourke from his team last year, are back as members of the Robert Campbell rink, while Kevin Champion and Mark Butler from last year’s winning team are on a rink skipped by Phil Gorveatt, who skipped last year’s runner-up rink. The Dolan rink is not entered this year.
This year’s winners will advance to the 2017 Everest Canadian Seniors Curling Championships, March 18-26 in Fredericton NB. The competition will be played at two facilities: the Capital Winter Club and Willie O’Ree Place, with the men’s and women’s finals both scheduled for the latter.
After a few weeks off, including this past weekend when most of the teams took part in the Future Scotties/Tankard, the Wendy’s Under 16 Developmental Curling League picks up again this Saturday morning here at the Cornwall Curling Club. Here are this week’s games:
Team Smith: “Strong couple of wins today against Northwest Territories and Newfoundland to move to 3-1! Battling Alberta tomorrow at 6:30PST.”
Team Lenentine: “Two tough games today against Alberta and Manitoba. Looking to regroup tomorrow at 6:30 PT VS Newfoundland”
ONTARIO WOMEN REMAIN ON PERFECT PACE AT 2017 CANADIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
VICTORIA — Hailey Armstrong was in distinctly unfamiliar territory on Sunday night at the Archie Browning Sports Centre.
Ontario sweepers Lindsay Dubue, left, and Marcia Richardson were hard at work on Sunday night. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
Armstrong, 20, and her Ontario team from the Rideau Curling Club in Ottawa weren’t just leading their game at the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples. They were leading it comfortably. Not an ounce of tension to be found.
The end result — a 14-3 win over Nunavut’s Sadie Pinksen (0-3; Iqaluit) — left Armstrong, vice-skip Grace Holyoke, second Lindsay Dubue, lead Marcia Richardson and coach Bill Rogers with a perfect 3-0 record in the opening weekend.
Compared to the route Team Ontario took to get to the 2017 Canadian Juniors, its experience to Victoria has been a walk in the park.
On three occasions during the playdowns, Team Armstrong (a first-year lineup) found itself on the verge of having its national championship dreams dashed.
Early in the Ontario challenge round (a last-chance qualifier to get to the provincial championship), Armstrong was down two playing the 10th end; she scored three for the victory to stay alive in a loser-out game.
B.C. skip Tyler Tardi watches as his sweepers Jordan Tardi, left, and Nick Meister look for directions. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
That, said Armstrong, may have been the turning point in her team’s season.
“We lost our first game and we knew we had to win three in a row to get to provincials,” she said. “But we pulled together as a team. Once we got that first win, we said, ‘You know what? We’re just going to go all the way.’ ”
That sense of destiny was heightened at the Ontario junior championships in Russell.
In the semifinal against defending champ Courtney Auld, Armstrong rallied from a 7-2 deficit through six ends to tie the game 9-9 after nine ends, then stole the winning point in the 10th.
And in the final against Emma Wallingford, Armstrong was down two with hammer in the 10th and made a delicate come-around tap to score three for the win and provincial title (CLICK HERE to see the shot).
“We never give up,” said Armstrong. “Even in a game as laid-back as that one (against Nunavut), we just said that we want to play how we play, we want to try to make every shot. We’re at a national-level event, and we want to make every shot we can.”
Armstrong is quick to point to her team’s work with coaching legend Earle Morris as a big factor in its mental toughness this season, and the results are on display this weekend in Victoria, where Armstrong and her teammates are having the time of their lives.
“It’s an amazing experience,” she marvelled. “I love the ice, the rocks are awesome, and just all the lights in the arena, the fans, the atmosphere. It’s wonderful.”
In other women’s games, Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (3-0; Regina) also remained perfect with an 11-3 victory over Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (2-1; St. John’s); Manitoba’s Laura Burtnyk (2-1; Winnipeg) downed Prince Edward Island’s Lauren Lenentine (1-3; Cornwall) 8-3; and B.C.’s Corryn Brown (2-1; Kamloops) needed an extra end for a 10-7 win over Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (2-1; Lévis).
Manitoba second Graham McFarlane throws his rock. (Photo, Curling Canada/Bob Vanderford)
In men’s games, Manitoba’s JT Ryan (Winnipeg) won a battle of the unbeatens, improving to 3-0 with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Alberta’s Colton Goller (3-1; Calgary); Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan (2-1; Copper Cliff) scored a big three in the ninth end for a 7-3 win over Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter (1-3; Saskatoon); P.E.I.’s Tyler Smith (3-1; Charlottetown) shaded Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Blyde (1-3; St. John’s) 4-3; and B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (2-0; Langley/New Westminster) made an open draw to the eight-foot in the 11th end for a 7-6 win over Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (1-2; Halifax).
Action at the 2017 Canadian Juniors continues on Monday with draws at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (All times PST).
Here is the Robyn MacPhee rink, who won the PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts Women’s Curling Championship, with a 7-5 win over the Veronica Smith team in this morning’s final at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside, and will now advance to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 18-26 at Meridian Centre, St. Catharines, Ont.
Although these two teams now curl out of the Charlottetown club, most of the players began their curling career here at Cornwall.
Photo (L-R): Al Ledgerwood (coach), Robyn MacPhee (skip), Sarah Fullerton (third), Meaghan Hughes, Michelle McQuaid. Photo credit: Emily Gray
Here is the runner-up Veronica Smith rink:
Photo (L-R): Veronica Smith (skip), Jane DiCarlo (third), Whitney Young (second), Aleya Quilty (lead), Angela Hodgson (coach). Photo credit: Emily Gray
Two very close championship round matches took place this morning at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex, with one championship decided, and one going to an extra match.
The Robyn MacPhee rink have won the provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s championship, stealing singles in the last two ends for a 7-5 win over Charlottetown clubmate Veronica Smith. MacPhee won two of the three modified triple knockout sections of the draw, giving her the title if she won either of the two championship games, so the 3:30 match is no longer needed.
Robyn MacPhee (Emily Gray photo)
Team MacPhee (Emily Gray photo)
Other members of the winning MacPhee squad are third Sarah Fullerton, second stone Meaghan Hughes, and lead Michelle McQuaid, with coach Al Ledgerwood. The runner-up Smith foursome includes vice-skip/mate Jane DiCarlo, second Whitney Young, and lead Aleya Quilty, with coach Angela Hodgson. The MacPhee rink will now advance to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 18-26 at Meridian Centre, St. Catharines, Ont.
It’s a different story with the Tankard provincial men’s championship, with the Eddie MacKenzie rink, who won only one of the three modified triple knockout sections winning 9-7 over Charlottetown clubmate Phil Gorveatt, who won two sections. This means that a winner-take-all final game will now be held between the two teams, at 3:30 pm, with the winner advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 4-12 at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, NL. In this morning’s game, MacKenzie had an 8-7 lead going into the final end, where he stole a single for the win.
VICTORIA — A year removed from a silver medal at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Tanner Horgan arrived in Victoria with not just a Northern Ontario moose emblem on his back.
If you look closely, you might also see a target — that goes with the territory of being one of the favourites to be taking part in next weekend’s playoffs at the 2017 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples.
“It’s a little different,” admitted the 18-year-old Laurentian University student, whose Copper Cliff team — third (and younger brother) Jacob Horgan, second/vice-skip Nick Bissonnette, lead Maxime Blais and coach/dad Gerry Horgan — opened the Juniors with an 8-4 win over Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (1-1; Halifax). “We’ve felt it locally, and we’ve felt it playing at events in southern Ontario. But this is very new to us, being a favourite at an event of this calibre. I feel like everyone kind of knows us, but it’s the same old, same old — you just have to go out and play your game, stay in your own zone.”
That was the case on Saturday evening at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, as Team Horgan, who lost the 2016 final to Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone, looked extremely comfortable in dispatching Nova Scotia.
“It’s huge; you always want that first one,” said Tanner Horgan. “It’s tough in any competition to start off with a loss; it’s one less win that you have to get along the way, and it’s just a huge confidence builder going into the next one. And they’re a good team; they’re one of the teams we knew we had to beat to move on in our pool, so it was good to start off with a win against those guys.”
There is one significant difference from last year, though. Jacob Horgan is still throwing third, but is now sweeping for his brother’s deliveries instead of holding the broom. Bissonnette replaced him at a junior event in Ottawa earlier this season, but it was only because he was too ill to sweep.
“It wasn’t so much a thought-out thing,” said Tanner Horgan. “But when Nick was put in the house with me we rattled off five wins in a row and won the ’spiel. It just kind of stuck, and we’ve had success ever since then.”
In other men’s games on Saturday night, Alberta’s Colton Goller (Calgary) improved to 2-0 with a 7-
In women’s games, Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (Regina) won her opener, taking six in the 10th end for a wild 13-8 victory over P.E.I.’s Lauren Lenentine (1-1; Cornwall); Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (Lévis) downed Nunavut’s Sadie Pinksen (Iqaluit) 8-5 in the opening game for both teams; Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (Ottawa) won her first game, 9-5 over Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (0-2; Sudbury); and Newfoundland/Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (St. John’s) was a 6-3 winner over Alberta’s Kristen Strifel (Edmonton) in the first game for both teams.
Action at the 2017 Canadian Juniors continues Sunday with draws at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (All times PST).
It’s down to the championship round for the Tankard Men’s Provincial Curling Championship, and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Provincial Women’s championship, and to the final draw in the three-game partial round robin for the Future Scotties/Tankard under 21 developmental event, all happening today at the six sheet Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside. The three events are all happening at the same time and venue as part of a pilot to increase interest in the Olympic sport of curling.
The Phil Gorveatt men’s team and the Robyn MacPhee women’s rink can wrap up their respective championships with a win in the 10 am draw, as they won two of the three sections in the modified triple knockout draw, giving them a “double life” in the championship round. Their opponents, the Eddie MacKenzie men’s rink, and the Veronica Smith women’s foursome have to win their first game to force a winner-take-all final at 3:30. All four teams are from the Charlottetown Curling Complex.
The Future Scotties/Tankard is a combined event, with six junior girls and two junior boys teams taking part. Although the emphasis is on the Scotties and Tankard experience rather than the results, the Cruz Pineau boys team from the host club, and the Lauren Ferguson girls team from the Cornwall Curling Club are both undefeated going into their third game. These teams don’t play each other in the event – Ferguson is taking on clubmate Rachel MacLean (1-1), while Pineau faces Charlottetown’s Katie Shaw, also at 1-1.
Phil Gorveatt calls to his sweepers Mike Dillon and Mark Butler in Tankard action on Saturday (Emily Gray photo)
Eddie MacKenzie rink (Emily Gray photo)
In Tankard action on Saturday, Gorveatt advanced to the C final with a 7-2 win over Tyler Harris and his combined Charlottetown/Western Community Curling Club team in the C semi-final, and then edged Robert Campbell and his squad from Charlottetown and the Silver Fox by a 9-8 score in an exciting C final, taking a tying deuce in the tenth end and stealing a single in the extra. Gorveatt also won the B section, while clubmate Eddie MacKenzie took the “A”. Campbell eliminated the host club’s Blair Jay foursome with an 8-6 win to advance to the C final.
Former Cornwall member Veronica Smith (Emily Gray photo)
Robyn MacPhee (Emily Gray photo)
The Robyn MacPhee rink could have wrapped up the Scotties with a win in the “C” final on Saturday night, as taking all three modified triple-knockout sections would have given them the title without having the play the Sunday championship round. However, the Veronica Smith team didn’t let that happen, beating their Charlottetown clubmates the Lisa Jackson team, 6-4 in the “C” semi, and then stealing a deuce in the 9th end in an 8-4 win over MacPhee in the “C” final.
Eight teams – four from the Charlottetown Curling Complex (skips Phil Gorveatt, Eddie MacKenzie, Jamie Newson, and Dennis Watts), two from the host Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex (skipped by Blair Jay and Calvin Smith), a combined Charlottetown/Silver Fox rink skipped by Robert Campbell, and a Tyler Harris-skipped combined rink from Charlottetown and the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, took part in the PEI Tankard, with the winning team advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 4-12, 2017 at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, NL.
Four teams – the Tammy Dewar-skipped foursome from the Montague Curling Rink, plus three Charlottetown Curling Complex teams, captained by Lisa Jackson, Robyn MacPhee, and Veronica Smith, were entered in the Scotties, with the winning rink advancing to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 18-26 at Meridian Centre, St. Catharines, Ont.
VICTORIA — Normally, after a win like the one Prince Edward Island’s young skip Lauren Lenentine put together Saturday to open the 2017 Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships, presented by Ambrosia Apples, she might be looking for a teammate, a coach, a family member with whom to celebrate.
Prince Edward Island skip Lauren Lenentine directs her sweepers during Draw 1 play at the 2017 Canadian Juniors. (Photo, Curling Canada)
But after knocking off three-quarters of the reigning world junior women’s champions from Nova Scotia, now skipped by Kristin Clarke, on Saturday at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, all Lenentine wanted was a pillow to take a nap.“Yeah, that hurt the head; it was hard on the heart, too,” said the smiling Lenentine, just 16, after her surprising 6-4 victory. “They’re the world champions, right? We’ve played them a couple times this year, and we’ve been really close. And we knew it would be hard.”
It was indeed; in fact, Lenentine, vice-skip Kristie Rogers, second Breanne Burgoyne, lead Rachel O’Connor and coach Pat Quilty needed an extra end to beat Nova Scotia (last year’s Canadian and world championship team was skipped by Mary Fay, who has taken a break from curling to pursue her education). But after Clarke was light on her draw to score two for the win in the 10th end, Lenentine and her Cornwall Curling Club team made no mistake in the 11th; Clarke’s last-rock guard overcurled, giving Lenentine an open hit for the victory.
It was Lenentine’s first win over Clarke after two last-rock losses earlier this season, and their past history made the prospect of playing the defending national and world champs in the opening draw of the 2017 Canadian Juniors less daunting, said Lenentine. “We’ve played them, they’re familiar to us, so that was a good thing, just knowing who we’re playing and how they play,” said Lenentine. “And we knew we could probably stay with them.”
It was a brilliant opening afternoon for Island curling fans; one sheet over, Tyler Smith’s Charlottetown team turned back Quebec’s Vincent Roberge (Lévis) 7-5.“It’s really nice to see both of us getting wins in our first games; it takes a bit of stress off us, knowing that we can compete,” said Lenentine. “We’re underdogs in P.E.I.”
Another former Canadian junior women’s champ, meanwhile, also was pushed hard before pulling out a victory. B.C.’s Corryn Brown (Kamloops), who won the 2013 national title at Fort McMurray, Alta., scored a clutch eighth-end deuce and hung on for a 4-3 win over Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (Sudbury). In other women’s play, Manitoba’s Laura Burtnyk (Winnipeg) scored three in both the second and seventh ends en route to a 9-2 triumph over Zoey Walsh of the Northwest Territories (Hay River); and New Brunswick’s Samantha Crook (Fredericton) scored deuces in three of the first four ends to beat Yukon’s Alyssa Meger (Whitehorse) 10-4.
In men’s action, meanwhile, Manitoba’s JT Ryan (Winnipeg) bounced back from giving up a steal of two in the sixth end by scoring three in the ninth for an 8-5 triumph over Newfoundland/Labrador’s Greg Blyde (St. John’s); Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (Halifax) stole one in the ninth and three in the 10th for a 9-3 win over Saskatchewan’a Rylan Kleiter (Saskatoon); and Alberta’s Colton Goller (Calgary) stole four in the third end and singles in the fourth and fifth ends for a 12-3 victory over Sawer Kaeser of the Northwest Territories (Fort Smith).
Action at the 2017 Canadian Juniors continues Saturday with the final draw of the day at 6:30 p.m. (All times PST).
Congrats to Cornwall junior member Mitchell Schut, whose team from Grace Christian School today won the Engineers PEI Future City regional competition at UPEI, and is off to the national competition in Washington DC next month.
Future City starts with a question—how can we make the world a better place? To answer it, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue. Past topics include stormwater management, urban agriculture, and green energy. The 2016-2017 topic is the Power of Public Space.
Students present their solutions via a virtual city design (using SimCity); a 1,500-word city essay; a scale model; a project plan, and a presentation to judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February.
Our sympathies go out to all members of the Lank family, many of whom have been heavily involved with the Cornwall Curling Club over the years, including Darlene and her husband, current Club member Danny Kneabone.
Melissa Lank
1972-2017
It is with heavy hearts that we share the sudden passing of Melissa Lank, after being involved in a car accident. Lovingly remembered by her husband and best friend, Trevor, and four children, Ben, Matt, Cassie and Marlee, as well as her father, Alfred (Marlene) Dennis; sister Joanne (Donnie) Bowers; grandmother Marjorie Silliker; father and mother-in-law Gordon and Shirley Lank; brother-in-law David (Tracey) Lank; sisters-in-law Norma Jean (John) Griffin, Darlene (Danny) Kneabone, Susan (Danny) McInnis, and Donna (Patrick) Butler. She is also remembered and loved by many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and friends. Predeceased by her mother, Gloria (Silliker) Dennis and niece Kerrilynn McInnis. Melissa would not want us to focus on the sadness of her loss. She lived every day focusing on making the most out of life with her family. Between being active in her church, running four children to hockey and various sports, camping, skiing and just coming up with crazy family excursions, her life was full. She loved everyone deeply and was deeply loved. She will be forever missed.
Resting at the Hennessey Cutcliffe Charlottetown Funeral home with completed funeral arrangements to be announced later.
Melissa’s love for others would prefer that in lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Burnside African Mission or the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Sunday Fun Night
Jan 22- 7pm
Open to all members and non-members
Come and have a fun 6 end game with family or friends!
It’s a great way to introduce the game to a new curler that might be interested in trying it out.
So get a group together or come on your own for a night of fun!
Curling starts at 7pm so please come a little early ( 6:45pm) to put teams together.
There is a $10.00 fee for non members, free for Cornwall club members.
Snacks and drinks after…
The annual Kenmac Energy Mixed Spiel, with a full roster of 24 teams came to a finish Saturday evening with the rink skipped by Danny Kneabone finishing on top.
Darlene and Danny Kneabone from the winning team
Teams played one six end game on Friday evening and two more on Saturday. Off ice, on Friday night the curlers were treated to mussels supplied by MR Seafoods Inc, plus other snack food. Saturday morning started with a freshly-brewed coffee, and muffins donated by Country Style. A selection of pizzas were delivered at lunch time to from Pizza Delight in Cornwall. During the day, Chase the Ace-50/50 tickets were sold, with Patsy Piercey walking away with $185! At
the end of the spiel curlers were treated to a “finger lickin’ good” chicken dinner provided
by KFC.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Then, back by great demand, TIP-ER-BACK got things hopping for the curlers to
hit the dance floor and dance the night away!
Dancing!
Eight teams received Mel’s Gift Cards. The winning Kneabone team, which also included mate Karen Currie, 2nd Carl Currie, and lead Darlene Kneabone, received trophies as well as gift cards.
The seven other winning teams (listed in order of most to least points) were shipped by Lorianne
Davies, Tom Dunn, Kimball Blanchard, Greg Robertson, John Berry, Gordon Matthews
and Ray Biagé.
We are very lucky to have Kenmac Energy as our sponsor for this annual event. Their
generosity is very much appreciated by all who participate! A special thank-you goes out
to Gordon Matthews who is now retired from the Kenmac Family but generously
agreed to coordinate. Thanks Gordon!
Remember Kenmac for all your home energy needs- oil, propane and furnace service
too. Thanks Kenmac another successful spiel!
With all big events there are a lot of thank yous to pass out! A big thank you to Bev our
club manager, Lance the “Ice Man”, Ray our custodian, our bartenders for the weekend
Kelly, Al and Debby, and to the many others that helped out with setting up, food,
helping in the kitchen and cleaning up and many other jobs. All these things help make
the Kenmac Energy Spiel a very successful event!
Thanks to everyone!
Lisa MacEachern & Darlene Howlett, Bonspiels and Socials Committee
(by Shane Ross) Two curlers from P.E.I. will have family close by when they compete at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Victoria, B.C., next week.
Noah O’Connor is the second on the men’s team, while his younger sister Rachel throws lead for the women’s team.
P.E.I. siblings Noah and Rachel O’Connor will both be competing at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Victoria, B.C., from Jan. 21-29. (Sarah MacMillan/CBC)
“It must be genetic or something,” said Noah during practice on Saturday at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
“We’re both fairly good at it, and had a lot of fun doing it, so it’s great to be able to curl with her at nationals.”
Noah, who is in his final year as a junior, competed at the nationals last year, as well. But this will be Rachel’s first time.
“I’m excited to be able to experience that with him this year,” Rachel said. “Just being able to see him curl and win is kind of motivating.”
The other members of the men’s team, out of the Charlottetown Curling Club, are skip Tyler Smith, third Christopher Gallant and lead Brooks Roche.
The women’s team, from the Cornwall Curling Club, also includes skip Lauren Lenentine, third Kristie Rogers and second Breanne Burgoyne.
It’ll be a busy five days from January 18 to 22, at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside, as the six-sheet facility will be hosting both the Tankard PEI men’s curling championship and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts PEI women’s championship, along with (on January 21 and 22) the Future Scotties/Tankard developmental event for curlers under age 21. Hosting all the events at one venue at one time is being done as a pilot project, and it is hoped it will increase interest in the Olympic sport of curling.
Admission is just $5 a draw (with up to six games on the ice at once), $8 for an entire day, or $20 for a full event pass. Admission is free for two draws – those featuring only the Future Scotties/Tankard teams, at 9 am on the 21st, and 1 pm on the 22nd. Opening ceremonies go at 5:45 pm on Wednesday the 18th, with the opening draw following at 6:30 pm.
Both the Scotties and the Tankard will play modified triple-knockout formats, where the winning team from each section also gets to compete in the other two sections. If a team wins all three sections, they will win the event without a championship round. If a team wins two sections, they will advance to a championship game against the winner of the other section and will take the championship if they win the game. If the other team wins, there will be a second championship game, with the winner of that game going to the nationals. If there are three separate section winners, the team that played in the most section finals will earn a bye to the second championship game where they will face the winner of a game between the other two finalists.
Scotties
Four teams – the Tammy Dewar-skipped foursome from the Montague Curling Rink, plus three Charlottetown Curling Complex teams, captained by Lisa Jackson, Robyn MacPhee, and Veronica Smith, are entered in the Scotties, with the winning rink advancing to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 18-26 at Meridian Centre, St. Catherines, Ont.
Scotties Team Rosters
Skip
3rd
2nd
Lead
Alt.
Coach
Club
Tammy Dewar
Darlene MacLeod London
Robyn MacDonald
Gail Greene
Montague Curling Rink
Lisa Jackson
Jaclyn Reid
Melissa Morrow
Jodi Murphy
Michala Robison
Charlottetown Curling Complex
Robyn MacPhee
Sarah Fullerton
Meaghan Hughes
Michelle McQuaid
Al Ledgerwood
Charlottetown Curling Complex
Veronica Smith
Jane DiCarlo
Whitney Young
Aleya Quilty
Angela Hodgson
Charlottetown Curling Complex
Scotties Draw
Seedings: four teams were seeded in the draw as a result of their cashspiel winnings this season: MacPhee #1, Smith #2, Jackson #3, Dewar #4
Eight teams – four from the Charlottetown Curling Complex (skips Phil Gorveatt, Eddie MacKenzie, Jamie Newson, and Dennis Watts), two from the host Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex (skipped by Blair Jay and Calvin Smith), a combined Charlottetown/Silver Fox rink skipped by Robert Campbell, and a Tyler Harris-skipped combined rink from Charlottetown and the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, are competing in the PEI Tankard, with the winning team advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 4-12, 2017 at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, NL.
The Future Scotties and Future Tankard, a developmental event designed to introduce young curlers to the Scotties and Tankard experience, will be a combined event this time, with the six junior women’s teams and the two junior men’s rinks all playing three games in a partial round-robin format. Six teams entered are from the Cornwall Curling Club, and are skipped by Alexis Burris, Lauren Ferguson, Clara Jack, Rachel MacLean, Bailey O’Grady, and Chase MacMillan, while the Katie Shaw rink is entered from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the Cruz Pineau foursome are representing the host Silver Fox curling facility.
S=Scotties,T=Tankard, F=Future. Qualifier games have game # in yellow.
Date
Draw
Time
Ice 1
Ice 2
Ice 3
Ice 4
Ice 5
Ice 6
Jan-18
5:45
On-ice Ceremony
1
6:30
S1
S2
T1
T2
T3
T4
Jan-19
2
10am
T5
T8
T6
T7
3
3pm
T10
T9
T11
S4
S3
6:30pm
Banquet
Jan-20
4
1pm
T13
T12
S5
T15
T14
5
6pm
S7
S6
T16
T17
T18
MacMillan
vs Pineau
Jan-21
6
9am
Pineau vs O’Grady
Shaw vs MacLean
Burris vs Ferguson
Jack vs MacMillan
7
1pm
Ferguson vs Jack
MacLean vs Burris
S8
T20
T19
O’Grady vs Shaw
8
6pm
T21
S9
Jan-22
9
10am
WA
MA
10
1pm
MacLean vs Ferguson
Pineau vs Shaw
MacMillan vs O’Grady
Burris vs Jack
11
3:30pm
MB
WB
Explanation for MA/MB (Tankard) and WA/WB (Scotties) championship games:
(Qualifier games are in yellow text on the schedule)
Scenarios
1. If one team wins all three qualifiers: Championship Round is not required.
2. If one team wins two qualifiers. They play in both championship games (and win the event if they win either game), the other winner plays in the first championship game and must win it in order to advance to the second championship game (and has to win both games to win the event).
3. If there are three separate winners of the qualifiers: the team that played in the most qualifying games gets a bye to the second championship and the other winners play off in the first championship game. If there is a tie in number of qualifying games played, then the team that qualified earliest goes to the second game and the other two teams play off in the first.
Results
End by end results for all games will be instantly available using Curling Canada’s results system. Current games for Scotties, Tankard, and Future Scotties/Tankard will be displayed on the sidebar of PEICurling.com.
The first night of the ten-week Adult Getting Started in Curling program, which alternates between the Cornwall Curling Club and the Charlottetown Curling Complex, took place last evening here at Cornwall, with 32 beginning curlers in attendance. Robyn Mattie from Curling Canada was on hand to lead the session, assisted by around 10 instructors and helpers from both curling facilities. For more info on the program, get in touch with Amy Duncan at aduncan@sportpei.pe.ca or (902) 368-4208.
Here are the team rosters for the Kenmac Energy Mixed Funspiel this weekend, with 24 teams signed up.
(skip through lead)
1 John Berry, Shirley Berry, Linda Fairhurst, Phyllis Cole
2 Cody Dawson, Jean Sinclair, Don Godfrey
3 Kimball Blanchard, Carol Sweetapple, Pam Sweetapple, Don Steeves
4 Tom Dunn, Hanny MacLeod, Frank Weiler, George Younker
5 Ray Biagé, Barb Duncan-Biagé, Jeff Hannam, Ann Greyborn
6 Gordon Matthews, Cathy Handren, David O’Hanley, Marjorie Matthews
7 Kim Glydon, Joe Callaghan, Dena Farrell, Darlene Howlett
8 Danny Kneabone, Karen Currie, Carl Currie, Darlene Kneabone
9 Eric LeBlanc, Carlene Peters, Danielle Girard, Helen Smith
10 Paul Field, Carolyn Crockett, Grant Crockett, Bernie Field
11 Greg Groves, Cynthia Livingstone, Don Weeks, Ken Monaghan
12 Bryan Sutherland, Colleen Soltermann, Elaine Hughes, Gary O’Sullivan
13 Hank Kamphuis Paula Ling, Gord Peters, Pat McInnis
14 Vern Chowan, Pat McCardle, Dick MacKinnon, Jean Anderson
15 Brent Irving, Angela Sanderson, Doug Kelly, Laurie Kelly
16 Angus Kennedy, Myrna Sanderson, Marlene Proud, Heather Diamond
17 Merrill Cronin, Marg Stewart, Joe Gill, Earl Cronin
18 Greg Robertson, Laura Robertson, Jeff Arsenault, Linda Matthews
19 Lorianne Davies, Angus Davies, Alan Mason, Kim MacDonald
20 Paul Durant, Hélène LaPalme, Wade Deaken, Joanne Durant
21 Danny Bernard, Colleen MacDonald, Elric MacDonald, Jessie MacPhail
22 Garth Cudmore, Rebecca Rolfe, Larry Cudmore, Maureen Cudmore
23 Barry Craswell, Janette Fraser, Jim Orr, Archie MacKinnon
24 Gloria Clarke, Ernie Stavert, Ruth Stavert, Adrian Clarke
Here is the draw (swipe left and right to scroll table on mobile)
The Provincial Under 18 Curling Championships, originally scheduled for the Crapaud Community Curling Club, will now be held at the Charlottetown Curling Complex. Dates remain the same – February 24-28. Entry deadline is February 3, 2017, and entry fee is $125 per team plus Curling Canada participant fee of $7.50 per player. Enter online at PEICurling.com.
The winning U18 teams earn the right to compete in the inaugural Canadian Under 18 Boys and Girls Curling Championship, operated by Curling Canada, April 18 to 22 at Curl Moncton and on arena ice at Moncton’s Superior Propane Centre.
The new Thursday evening Adult Getting Started instructional league for beginner curlers, which alternates between the Cornwall Curling Club and the Charlottetown Curling Complex through March 16, kicks off this Thursday, January 12 at Cornwall, from 8:30 to 10 pm. There is still room for more curlers. If interested, get in touch with Amy Duncan at aduncan@sportpei.pe.ca or (902) 368-4208 as soon as possible.
Robyn Mattie from Curling Canada will be at the Cornwall club on Wednesday from 6-8 to help with “train the trainer” sessions, reviewing the program, giving tips and sharing best practices with the trainers, and on Thursday from 8:30 to 10 pm to instruct on the first night.
Representatives from each PEI club are asked to attend on Wednesday, with those involved in the Charlottetown/Cornwall program, as well as those not available on Wednesday, requested to be in attendance on Thursday.
The Town of Cornwall will host the 2017 Vogue Optical 55+ Winter Games from February 20-24, 2017. All seniors are encouraged to participate in this fun, friendly competition.
Events will include: hockey, pickleball, bowling, auction 45s, cribbage, curling, stick curling, contract bridge, duplicate bridge, darts, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, crokinole, squash, badminton, spin cycling, table tennis, and Scrabble.
There will also be a flag raising to open the Games and a Celebration Ceremony and Luncheon to close.
Curling and Stick Curling will both take place here at the Cornwall Curling Club, beginning at 8 each morning, with regular curling draws Monday Feb. 20 through Wed. February 22, and stick curling on Thursday the 23rd, and Friday the 24th.
Registration forms for all events are now available here at the Cornwall Curling Club, and at various Vogue Optical locations around the Island. All past participants with a valid e-mail address will receive a copy via e-mail. Those without an e-mail address will receive a copy in the mail.
Individual event schedules will be posted as soon as they become available following the registration deadline, which is February 9th.
Entries closed at midnight for the Curl PEI Provincial Masters Curling Championships, for curlers age 60 and over, and for the Future Tankard and Future Scotties developmental events for curlers under age 21.
Masters
The PEI Masters Curling Championships take place from Jan. 27-31 at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. Defending champs are the Sandy Hope and Ted MacFadyen rinks. MacFadyen is back this year, as one of the seven men’s teams, from 4 clubs, that are entered. The Hope rink are the only women’s entry.
Winning and runner-up teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside, while the winning teams also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
The Future Scotties and Tankard developmental events for curlers under 21 who may one day participate in the provincial women’s or men’s championships take place January 20-22 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex, in conjunction with the Scotties and Tankard championships. Six teams, five from the Cornwall Curling Club and one from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, have signed up for the Future Scotties, while two rinks – one from Cornwall and one from the host Silver Fox are entered in the Future Tankard.
The second round is now complete in the Wednesday Evening Ladder League. The Greg Groves rink, which includes Don Weeks, Cynthia Livingstone, and Marjorie Matthews, made an impressive debut in the A pool, having only one loss, and will win the first place gift certificates courtesy of sponsor Griffin’s Auto Service. Three teams, skipped by Donald DeWolfe, Gord Peters, and Angus Kennedy, had two losses and will be remaining in the A pool, while two teams, skipped by round 1 winner Joe Callaghan, and by Greg Robertson, have only one win, and will be moving down the ladder to the B pool.
A final-week loss by previously-undefeated Ray Biagé to Kelly Watts made things complicated in the B pool, with these two rinks, plus the Lauren Ferguson team, all finishing with 4 and 1 win-loss records, and only two of them to move to the A pool. The head to head records couldn’t be used to determine the winner, as each of the three teams lost to one of the others: Biagé beat Ferguson 7-5, but lost 10-5 to Watts. Watts beat Biagé 10-5, but lost to 7-4 to Ferguson, and Ferguson beat Watts 7-4, but lost 7-5 to Biagé. According to the tiebreaking rules, we then have to look at score differences between the three tied teams. Biage and Ferguson each scored 12 points, and Watts scored 14, so Watts wins the round, and the gift certificates, courtesy of sponsor Cornwall Auto and Tire. We then had to return to the head to head records between Biagé and Ferguson, who were tied in score points. Since Biagé won their head to head game, they are awarded second place, and will be moving up to the A pool, while Ferguson will remain in B.
Here are the teams for round three (order juggled slightly to ensure that no team is in same slot as last round)
Team Ferguson is attending a Junior Development session with Adam Casey in Summerside next Wednesday evening and would like to play their game at another time, so we will schedule them against the other junior team, MacLean, in that game, and they can play it when time and ice permits over the next 5 weeks. The A pool will have the early timeslot the first week, as they had the late slot in the final game of round 2.
Here is the round three draw, with the A pool sponsored by Wally’s Pharmasave, and the B pool sponsored by Red Island Baked Potato.
Week One Jan. 11
6:30 pm (A pool)
Ice 1: A3-Angus Kennedy vs A4-Donald DeWolfe
Ice 2: A2-Gord Peters vs A5-Kelly Watts
Ice 3: A1-Greg Groves vs A6-Ray Biagé
8:30 pm (B pool)
Ice 1: B3-Rachel MacLean vs B4-Lauren Ferguson
Ice 2: B2-Greg Robertson vs B5-Dave Younker
Ice 3: B1-Joe Callaghan vs B6-Rob Gallant
Week Two Jan. 18
6:30 pm (B pool)
Ice 1: B2-Greg Robertson vs B3-Rachel MacLean
Ice 2: B4-Lauren Ferguson vs B6-Rob Gallant
Ice 3: B1-Joe Callaghan vs B5-Dave Younker
8:30 pm (A pool)
Ice 1: A2-Gord Peters vs A3-Angus Kennedy
Ice 2: A4-Donald DeWolfe vs A6-Ray Biagé
Ice 3: A1-Greg Groves vs A5-Kelly Watts
Week Three Jan. 25
6:30 pm (A pool)
Ice 1: A4-Donald DeWolfe vs A1-Greg Groves
Ice 2: A2-Gord Peters vs A6-Ray Biagé
Ice 3: A5-Kelly Watts vs A3-Angus Kennedy
8:30 pm (B pool)
Ice 1: B4-Lauren Ferguson vs B1-Joe Callaghan
Ice 2: B2-Greg Robertson vs B6-Rob Gallant
Ice 3: B5-Dave Younker vs B3-Rachel MacLean
Week Four Feb. 1
6:30 pm (B pool)
Ice 1: B5-Dave Younker vs B6-Rob Gallant
Ice 2: B1-Joe Callaghan vs B3-Rachel MacLean
Ice 3: B4-Lauren Ferguson vs B2-Greg Robertson
8:30 pm (A pool)
Ice 1: A5-Kelly Watts A6-Ray Biagé
Ice 2: A1-Greg Groves vs A3-Angus Kennedy
Ice 3: A4-Donald DeWolfe vs A2-Gord Peters
Week Five Feb. 8
6:30 pm (A pool)
Ice 1: A2-Gord Peters vs A1-Greg Groves
Ice 2: A3-Angus Kennedy vs A6-Ray Biagé
Ice 3: A4-Donald DeWolfe vs A5-Kelly Watts
830 pm (B pool)
Ice 1: B2-Greg Robertson vs B1-Joe Callaghan
Ice 2: B3-Rachel MacLean vs B6-Rob Gallant
Ice 3: B4-Lauren Ferguson vs B5-Dave Younker
Cornwall’s Lauren Lenentine rink, PEI’s 2017 Junior Women’s Curling Champions, are heading to Victoria BC from Jan. 21-29 to represent PEI at the Canadian championships. A “Meet and Greet” Fundraiser in their honour is being held at the Cornwall Civic Centre, upstairs from the Cornwall Curling Club, at 29 Cornwall Road on Saturday, January 14 from 5-7:30 pm. Storm date is the 15th.
Come meet the team and wish them well!
Chili and snacks are being served, and donations to cover their expenses at the nationals will be graciously accepted.
Hitting one of our Marco removable hacks with a 44 pound curling stone can damage the ice, necessitating a several hour repair, and even destroy the hack itself. When you are practicing, be sure to use the wooden hack guard to prevent damage.
When you are playing, it is your responsibility to ensure that rocks are stopped before they hit the hack. Please watch this video, produced by Glenn Paulley and Rob Shaw of the Elmira & District Curling Club, to see what can happen, and what is involved in repairing the ice. Don’t be a hack whacker!
Instructors are needed for the Adult Getting Started League, which goes Thursday evenings from 8:30 to 10 pm, from January 12 to March 16, alternating between the Cornwall Curling Club and the Charlottetown Curling Complex. They would like to have at least one instructor for every 8 participants. This League will follow existing curriculum and training (The Getting Started in Curling for Adults program), and Curling Canada’s Robyn Mattie will be providing free training for the instructors the evenings of January 11 & 12. Instructors will receive an honorarium. If you are interested in being an instructor, please contact Amy Duncan at 902-368-4208 or aduncan@sportpei.pe.ca.
The local group “Tip ‘er Back”, who play a mix of Maritime, traditional, country, and original music, will be playing here at the Cornwall Curling Club on Saturday, January 14, from 8-11 pm, following the closing banquet for the Kenmac Energy bonspiel. Everybody is welcome to attend the dance!
To help cover expenses, there will be a 5 dollar cover charge for those not participating in the Kenmac Energy Spiel. Please pay your cover at the bar when you arrive on the 14th.
The Cornwall Curling Club is well-known for its junior curling program, which has produced many provincial champions over the years. We are always looking for new members, and our new year instructional program begins on Sunday, January 8 and runs through March 12. Curling is great exercise, a lot of fun, and very reasonably priced! Those who learned about curling at their school through the Rocks and Rings program, and/or on the ice with Curling 101, as well as those completely new to the sport are welcome!
Details:
Little Rockers (age 6-7) Sundays 3:30-4:15pm – $72.50 (all included)
Novice (age 8-10) Sundays 4:30-5:30pm & Tuesdays 5-6pm – $86.86 (all included)
The beginning curling program is divided into two sessions, before and after the Christmas break, and you can sign up for one or both. The program includes beginner instruction and, for those with more experience, the Novice category, normally in the 8-12 age range.
Adults interested in participating in the Olympic sport of curling are invited to take part in the new “Getting Started” league, on Thursdays from 8:30-10 pm, running from January 12 through March 16, 2017, and alternating between the Cornwall Curling Club and the Charlottetown Curling Complex. All interested beginner adult curlers are welcome.
Club members are urged to tell their friends and co-workers and to share this post on social media.
Bring a friend, bring a spouse, come as a team or an individual.
$115/person (all included). 100% money-back guarantee within the 1st two weeks.
This instructional league will have on-ice instructors who will create a safe and fun environment for participants to learn how to curl. The league will alternate weeks between the Cornwall Curling Club and the Charlottetown Curling Complex.
No experience is needed. Equipment and lessons are provided. Social time in the lounge will follow the curling each evening.
The Wendy’s Under 16 Development League, which takes place on selected Saturday mornings at the Cornwall Curling Club, picks up again with Week 5, this Saturday, Jan. 7, at 9 and 10:30am. Remaining draw dates are: Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11, and Mar 18.
Here is this week’s schedule:
In order to start the 10:30 draw on time (or as close as possible), in the event the specified sheets are not ready, the games will be played on Ice 1 and on next available sheet.
Following today’s final games at the Pepsi Provincial Junior Curling Championships at the Montague Curling Club, it was time to present the trophies to the winners and runners-up, as well as the certificates to the winners of the Asham Coaching Awards, as voted on by all the coaches, and the Sportsmanship awards, as voted on by the players.
On hand for the presentations were Kevin Smith from sponsor PepsiCo Canada, and Montague’s Curl PEI Club Representative Philip MacDonald.
Here is the winning women’s team, Team Lenentine, from the Cornwall Curling Club.
(L-R): Kevin Smith (sponsor), Rachel O’Connor, Breanne Burgoyne, Kristie Rogers, Lauren Lenentine, Pat Quilty (Coach), Philip MacDonald (Curl PEI)
Here is the runner-up women’s team, Team Mackay, from Ch’town and Montague.
(L-R): Kevin Smith (sponsor), Kaleigh Peters, Alyssa Wright, Danielle Collings, Kaleigh Mackay, Tammy Dewar (Coach), Philip MacDonald (Curl PEI)
Here is the winning men’s rink, Team Smith, from Charlottetown, with Cornwall club member Noah O’Connor.
(L-R): Kevin Smith (sponsor), Brooks Roche, Noah O’Connor, Christopher Gallant, Tyler Smith, Peter Gallant (Coach), Philip MacDonald (sponsor)
Here are the men’s runners-up, Team Devin Schut from the Cornwall Curling Club.
(L-R): Kevin Smith (sponsor), Devin Schut, Owen Collier, Tyler Garnhum, Alec Huestis, David Parker (Coach)
Asham Coach Award – Men’s Division winner: Roger Gavin (no picture), coach of Team Noye, Women’s Division winner: Pat Quilty, from the Cornwall Curling Club, coach of Team Lenentine.
(L-R): Pat Quilty, Philip MacDonald (Curl PEI)
Sportsmanship Award – Junior Men’s Division winner: Leslie Noye, skip for Team Noye (no picture), Junior Women’s Division winner, Sabrina Smith from Team Meghan Ching of the Cornwall Curling Club.
(L-R): Sabrina Smith, Philip MacDonald (Curl PEI rep.)
Northern Ontario skip Tanner Horgan directs his sweepers on Saturday night. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
Quebec vice-skip Laura Guénard looks a little concerned with her shot. (Photo, Curling Canada/Al Cameron)
