PEICurling.com

Sixteen teams, including PEI rinks skipped by Kevin Champion,  Bill Hope, Mike Gaudet, Jeff Wilson and defending champion John Likely, will be competing for almost $12,000 in prize money in the 2008 Hub City Shootout, which gets underway Thursday night at Moncton’s Beaver Curling Club. The final of this Atlantic Curling Tour event goes Sunday at 1:30 pm. Other entries include Olympic and two-time world champion Russ Howard of Moncton, the Steven Burgess junior rink from Fredericton, with PEI’s Robbie Doherty at second, and former Canadian men’s and mixed champion Mark Dacey from Halifax.

Here are the teams entered:
1. Rick Perron, Scott Jones, Pierre Fraser, Jared Bezanson – NB
2. Stephen Burgess, Jon Rennie, Robbie Doherty, Kevin Brayshaw – NB
3. Mark Kehoe, Tom Sullivan, Kevin Saccary, Scott Saccary – NS
4. Roger Oakes, Graeme MacKinnon, Mark McKinnon, Doug Sampson, Greg MacKin (5^th) – NB
5. Kevin Champion, Andrew Robinson, Mark O’Rourke, Rod MacDonald, Peter MacDonald – PEI
6. John Likely, Phil Gorveatt, Mark Butler, Mike Dillon – PEI
7. Derek Ellard, Dave Nowlan, Shaun Mott, Nick McCann – NB
8. Wade Blanchard, Tim Comeau, Zach Eldridge, Scott Archibald– NB
9. Mike Kennedy, Jeff Henderson, Jeremy Mallais, Chris Jeffrey – NB
10. Jeff Wilson, Lincoln Peters, TBA, Matt Praught – PEI
11. Bill Hope, Dennis Watts, Jeff Gallant, Phillip McInnis – PEI
12. Mark Dacey, Dave Stephenson, Andrew Gibson, Kris Granchelli – NS
13. Jamie Brannen, Mark Ward, Darryl Langdon, Nick Munn – NB
14. Russ Howard, James Grattan, Jason Vaughan, Peter Case, Steve Howard – NB
15. Mike Gaudet,  Eddie MacKenzie, Tyler Harris, Sean Clarey – PEI
16. Steve Lodge, Paul Lodge, Matt Hone, Gordon McCrady- ONT

The Charlottetown Curling Club has been awarded this year’s final for the Atlantic Curling Tour. The event will take place December 11-14.

This is one of the biggest cashspiels of the season in Atlantic Canada and will feature the top 16 regional qualifiers based on money won leading up to this event. The ACT Final is a triple knock-out competition with a purse that could be worth in excess of $10,000.

Some of Canada’s best known curlers are already in the running for a spot in the ACT final. Olympic Gold medallist Russ Howard and Brier champ Mark Dacey are in a position to qualify as well as former Brier reps like Shawn Adams, Brian Rafuse and Mark Kehoe. Two Island rinks are also in a position to qualify. John Likely and Brett Gallant have both been winning on the tour. Both Likely and Gallant have represented PEI in national curling competitions.

Ticket information and team qualifiers will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more information on the event, contact Rob Warren, manager of the Charlottetown Curling Club at 892-7467. For more information on the Atlantic Curling Tour, visit www.curleast.com.

On Sunday, the Ted MacFadyen foursome took second place the the 6th annual seniors cash bonspiel at the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax.

MacFadyen went 5-0 through the round robin ensuring a spot in the semi-finals. The team won their semi-final game and moved on to the final against Nova Scotia’s Brian Rafuse.

Rafuse represented his province last year in both the Brier and the national Seniors, and recently won the Rodd Classic cashspiel in Charlottetown. MacFadyen represented PEI in the national Seniors, for the sixth time (he’s also a five- time provincial men’s champion).

The final was a low-scoring game with several ends blanked. Rafuse pulled out a 3-2 win, taking home $1800, while the MacFadyen team won $1200.

Curling with MacFadyen was third Craig Mackie, second David Murphy and lead Mike Coady. Curt Palmer, Alan Darragh, and Dave Slauenwhite round out the Rafuse rink.