The Provincial Under 18 Curling Championships wrapped up this afternoon at our Club, and were a huge success! Cornwall’s Lauren Lenentine rink won the women’s event, with the Lauren Moerike team coming third. The Club’s Donald DeWolfe team were runners-up in the men’s event, with third place going to the young Mitchell Schut team, also from our club.

Cornwall’s Emma Coffin won the women’s Sportsmanship award, as voted on by the players.

Photo: Emma Coffin

The opening ceremonies were a big success (but a little hard to hear on the warm side of the glass when the wireless microphone cut out partway through!), with rave reviews for anthem singer Julien Kitson, and local piper Calum Brydon. Cornwall’s Katie Fullerton threw the ceremonial first rock, assisted by three Cornwall members – Annika, Tati, and Liam Kelly, and Cornwall town councillor Elaine Barnes paid her first visit the the Club, and appeared to be very impressed. The players praised the ice, and the warmup/practice music we provided, thanks to the on-ice sound system loaned to us by the Town.

The fresh-baked cookies, donated by Robbie Lenentine and ADL were very popular, especially among the younger spectators, and the sandwiches sold very well, too. Our donation jar collected $60, which will go toward our Junior program’s closing party, and the 50X50 draw was nothing short of spectacular, with over $700 raised to help cover lost ice rental and other expenses for the weekend, plus some profit for the Club.

I took the opportunity during both closing ceremonies to thank everybody who helped make this event a success, and I will also post it here:

Thanks to our organizing committee, including the Lenentine and O’Connor families, and Shellley Mackay. The events I’ve organized before were for quite a different age group, so it was wonderful to have people who knew what we needed for this age group.

Thanks to O’Connor Glass for covering expenses for our piper and anthem singer, along with snacks for the curlers, and to Margaret and David O’Connor for taking pictures.

Thanks to Robbie Lenentine and ADL for the great, easy to make cookies!

Thanks to the Cornwall parents of bonspiel participants, who helped us out with baking cookies and making sandwiches (including Marci White, Edith Huestis, and Margaret O’Connor), and the many parents who helped with selling 50X50 tickets.

Thanks to our opening ceremonies participants, including President Paula Ling, Curl PEI Pres Angela Hodgson, Elaine Barnes from the Town, our piper Calum Brydon, anthem singer Julien Kitson, 1^st rock thrower Katie Fullerton, her helpers the Annika, Tati and Liam Kelly.

Thanks to Tracey MacLean and the Cornwall Recreation Dept. for loaning us the on-ice PA system for opening ceremonies, warmup music, and for the officials to use for giving instructions during practice and Last Stone Delivery.

Thanks to Amanda Bulger for doing the Curlcast online scoring, and for our many timers,  to the officials Shelley Ebbett, Yvonne Barbour and Kay Atkinson, to Curl PEI’s Amy Duncan, and to the daytime and junior curlers who gave up their ice for this event.

Thanks to the many timers, including Tom Dunn, Kimball Blanchard, Paul Durant, Jack Ferguson, Janette Fraser, Lew Black, Linda Fairhurst, Debbie Rhodenhizer, and Bryan Sutherland

Thanks to the Board of Directors and staff at the Cornwall Curling Club including manager Bev, bartenders Al, Debby, and Kelley, to Lance and the ice crew for great ice, and to Ray, who kept the place looking sparkling!

By the way, we’ll be calling for more volunteers in March as we host the  provincial Travelers Curling Club championship.

Thanks to everyone who bought 50X50 tickets, sandwiches and cookies, drinks, chips, curling supplies etc. and put money in our donation jar.

• Derek MacEwen, Cornwall Curling Club Board of Directors member, and Under 18 Championship coordinator.