It was a conservatively-played all-PEI final at the Silver Fox Curling Club Cashspiel this afternoon in Summerside, with Summerside’s Mike Gaudet edging Charlottetown’s Kyle Stevenson by a 5-4 score. Teams traded singles in every end except number four, where the Gaudet deuce gave him the edge needed to come out the winner. Playing with Gaudet this season are Eddie MacKenzie, Tyler Harris, and Sean Clarey, while Ben Blanchard, Kyle MacDonald and Doug MacGregor round out the Stevenson squad.
In semi-final action, Stevenson knocked off previously-undefeated Brett Gallant of Charlottetown by a 7-4 score, while Gaudet recorded triples in ends one and three en route to a 7-3 victory over Mark Armstrong of New Brunswick.
The Gaudet rink pick up two grand for their first place finish, while the Stevenson foursome bring $1600 back to Charlottetown. Gallant and Armstrong collect $1200 each, while quarter-finalists Rick Perron of New Brunswick and Danny Christianson of Nova Scotia go home with $800.
The Atlantic Curling Tour wraps up back on PEI in two weeks, with the ACT Championships taking place at the Charlottetown Curling Club December 11-14, with the top 16 regional qualifiers eligible to compete.
New Glasgow NS-The 2008 Sobeys Slam Final was a game of missed of opportunities on the part of Stephanie Lawton, and strong offense by Marie France Larouche. Put those two factors together, and the net result is a 7-3 final score in favor of the rink from Quebec. For Larouche, it was a second straight trip to the finals, after falling to Sherry Middaugh 6-4 in the 2007 final.
The tone was set early, as Stephanie Lawton had an excellent opportunity for 3 points in the first end, but a draw crashed on some rocks out front, and instead settled for a single point. After a blank in end two, Larouche had an open draw for 3, resulting from a misplayed draw by Lawton with her last. Larouche forced Lawton to take 1 in the fourth, then Larouche bounced right back with another 3 in the fifth.
At that point the score was 6-2, and the Quebec rink basically ran the game out, trading singles in six and seven, then running Lawton out of rocks in the eighth.
Larouche says she is very happy with the way her team played. “For the game, all the girls were so strong. There are 32 of the best teams maybe in the world (here), so we know we need to play well to win the game.”
When asked about coming to the Slam again next year, Larouche promised “we will be back.”
The two semi-final games earlier on Sunday were not for the feint of heart. In both cases, the team with hammer in the eighth had a one-point lead. In both cases steals of one sent the games to extra ends, and in both games, the final shot of the extra end was a nail-biter before the winner was determined. Stephanie Lawton needed a draw to the button for a 5-4 win over Cathy King, and was able to make it, while Marie France Larouche needed a hit on a rock partially behind cover for her 7-5 win over Sherry Middaugh.
It takes a number of sponsors to put on major curling events such as the PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial women’s curling championship. The PEI Curling Association recently presented a plaque to Charlottetown Wal-Mart management to thank the company for their contribution to last year’s successful event held at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
Photo L-R: Greg Lucas (Executive Director, PEICA), Carl Gibbons (Manager, Charlottetown Wal-Mart), Marina Provost (Day Manager, Charlottetown Wal-Mart), Darrell Doucette (PEICA Event Coordinator)
This year’s Scotties will take place at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside from January 22-26. Three-time defending champion and Summerside native Suzanne Birt will be back with a new team this year, with veteran skip Shelly Bradley (who skipped the runner-up team last year) at third, Leslie MacDougall at second, and Stefanie Clark, the only remaining member from last year’s rink, in the lead position.
The noon semi-final round is set at the Silver Fox Curling Club Cashspiel in Summerside. In this morning’s quarter-final play, Mike Gaudet of Summerside beat Danny Christianson of Halifax 6-2, while Kyle Stevenson of Charlottetown beat Rick Perron of New Brunswick 8-3. Stevenson now faces undefeated Brett Gallant, while Gaudet takes on Mark Armstrong of New Brunswick in the noon semi-finals. Gallant and Armstrong earned byes to the semis as a result of their 5-0 and 4-1 round robin finishes respectively.
The finals go at 3 pm, with $2000 going to the winning team, $1600 to the runner-up, $1200 for third and fourth place, and $800 going to the remaining quarter-finalists Christianson and Perron.
Eighteen teams are taking part in this annual Atlantic Curling Tour event.
New Glasgow NS-The Quarter-Final draw of the Sobeys Slam was incredibly exciting with three of the four games going down to the final rock, one of them even needing an extra end. The only game which was not a nail-biter was over early. Stephanie Lawton scored 3 in the first, stole 4 in the fourth, and shook hands after 5 ends in a dominating 9-1 victory over Crystal Webster. Last year’s finalists will meet this year in the Semi-Final, as Marie France Larouche stole 1 in the eighth as Bingyu Wang’s draw with her final stone came up light, and Sherry Middaugh made a hit for 2 points with her last rock in the extra end against Heather Rankin. Cathy King did not have to throw her last rock, as Mary Anne Arsenault just missed with her last, giving King the 6-5 victory.
This sets up a Western Semi-Final, and an Eastern Semi-Final. Cathy King from Alberta will face Stephanie Lawton from Saskatchewan, and Mary-France Larouche from Quebec meets Sherry Middaugh of Ontario. This is a rematch of last year’s final, which was won by Middaugh.
The semis go at 11:30 this morning, with the final at 3 pm.
The Board of Directors of the PEI Curling Association is pleased to announce that Mr. Darrell Doucette has accepted the position of Event Coordinator for the upcoming season. Mr. Doucette is a native of Rustico, currently living in Charlottetown, and brings a wealth of event and project management experience to the position, which involves coordinating the running of fourteen provincial championship events, with curlers from under 12 years of age through to over 60.
Photo: Darrell Doucette Click for larger version.
During the “off-season”, Mr. Doucette is owner/operator of “Tournament Golf” (www.tournamentgolf.ca), a golf event management company. He has been involved in the management of several PEI golf courses, and prior to that worked in construction planning and project management. He has also been an avid curler, and is very familiar with the sport.
Mr. Doucette can be contacted at tournamentgolf@yahoo.ca.
Due to a conflict with the curling portion of the 55+ Games, the dates for the Provincial Stick Curling Championship at the Cornwall Curling Club have been advanced from early March to February 16-18. Entry deadline is Jan. 26, and entry fee is $60 per two-player team. This will be the third year for this event, which was won the first two years by the Cornwall duo of Ernie Stavert and Sterling Stratton.
In stick curling there are two curlers per team, who deliver their rocks with delivery sticks, with each team member delivering from opposite ends. Sweeping is allowed only from the hog line to the back of the house at the playing end. Two curlers, one from each team, alternately deliver 6 stones each per end, while their teammate skips that end. The roles are then reversed, and the partners deliver the stones back. All games are six ends.
Stick curlers are excited about a new rule this year which extends the free guard zone from the hogline to the backline of the house. This means that no stone may be removed from play until the fourth stone of each end. Bob Leard is a stick curler and delivery stick manufacturer from Montague who has played under the new rule, and says that it makes for a much more exciting game, as there are always rocks in the house.
For more information on stick curling, including complete rules of play, visit www.stickcurling.ca.
The quarter-finals get underway Sunday at 9 am at the annual Silver Fox Curling Club Cashspiel in Summerside. Two teams, skipped by New Brunswick’s Mark Armstrong and by Charlottetown’s Brett Gallant, have advanced directly to the noon semi-finals, as a result of their round robin results. Gallant will play the winner of a quarter-final between Rick Perron of Moncton and Charlottetown’s Kyle Stevenson, while Armstrong meets either Summerside’s Mike Gaudet, or Danny Christianson of Halifax.
Gallant went through round-robin play undefeated, while Armstrong, Stevenson, Perron and Christianson had 4-1 win-loss records, and Gaudet went 3-2.
The finals go at 3 pm, with $2000 going to the winning team, $1600 to the runner-up, $1200 for third and fourth place, and $800 going to the remaining quarter-finalists.
In play on Saturday, Perron scored five points in the third end for a 5-0 decision over Charlottetown’s Tim Cullen, and scored four points in the final end to win 7-4 over Robbie Shaw. He beat Ted MacFadyen 6-1 in four ends in another Saturday game.
Bill Hope of Charlottetown handed Christianson his only loss by a 5-1 score, aided by a four point steal in the second end, earlier in the day, Christianson doubled Charlottetown’s Tim Cullen 8-4, taking 4 in the fifth end, and stealing a 6th end single to end the game early.
Gaudet doubled Derek Ellard of Moncton 6-3, and beat Terry Piper 6-2. Gallant beat Charlottetown clubmate Kim Dolan 7-5 in an extra end, shaded Gaudet 7-6 by stealing two points in the final end, and beat Ellard 6-4, while Stevenson beat clubmate John Likely 8-3, taking four points in the 6th, and won 8-1 over Karen Currie of Cornwall.
Eighteen teams are taking part in this annual Atlantic Curling Tour event.
Donna Butler’s Cinderella run concluded Saturday evening at the Sobeys Slam in New Glasgow NS, as Crystal Webster scored 4 in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead, then Butler blanked the seventh but was only able to get one with the hammer in eight to fall 6-5. Webster will face Stephanie Lawton in the quarter-finals, which begin Sunday morning at 8.
World Champion Jennifer Jones missed some opportunities early, and Cathy King took 4 in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead. But Jones replied with 3 of her own in the seventh, and was one down going home, without the hammer. King scored 2 in the eighth, and advanced to the quarter-finals, against Mary Anne Arsenault of Halifax, with an 8-5 victory.
Heather Strong and Marie France LaRouche went back and forth, until Larouche clinched the win with 2 in the eighth. Last year’s finalist now faces Team China in the quarters.
Heather Rankin survived a close call against Krista McCarville. She thought McCarville’s stone was shot rock, but a measurement revealed otherwise for a 7-6 victory. Rankin now meets defending champion Sherry Middaugh.
The semifinals are scheduled for 11:30 am and the final goes at 3 pm.
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