Three draws have now been completed at the Labatt Tankard Final Eight Championship round at the Montague Curling Club. After Wednesday play, Charlottetown’s John Likely rink leads the pack with a 3-0 win-loss record, recording a 9-4 win over top qualifier Rod MacDonald, and edging PEI Seniors champ Mel Bernard by a 5-4 score.

Two Charlottetown teams are tied for second place with 2-1 records. They are Seniors runner-up Ted MacFadyen, who has five Tankards in his collection, and is competing in his 16th Final Eight competition, and 2004 winner Mike Gaudet. In action today, Gaudet scored a triple in the ninth end to beat MacFadyen 8-5, and then went on to trounce O’Leary’s Clair Sweet rink by an 8-1 score, shutting the game down after the sixth end, when he took a triple. MacFadyen edged Charlottetown clubmate Rod MacDonald in his evening game, with a four-point third end aiding the victory.

The remaining five teams, MacDonald, Bernard, Sweet,  and Charlottetown’s Jamie Newson and Bill Hope, all have one win against two losses. Key games Wednesday included a 7-4 win for Hope over Newson, a 9-8 extra-end win for Sweet over Hope, and a 9-4 Bernard win over Newson,

Round robin play continues through Friday evening, with Thursday and Friday draws at 2 and 7. 

Likely will face Gaudet in the 2 pm draw on Thursday, and will play MacFadyen at 7 pm.

Tiebreakers, if needed, plus the Page playoff games go on Saturday, with the  semi-final going either Saturday night or  Sunday morning.  The final is Sunday at 3 pm, with the winner advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 7-15 in Calgary.

DAVE STEWART – The Guardian

Kathie Gallant choked back tears as she recounted the faith she has always had in her son’s talent.
“Being a curler, myself, although he’s my son, I knew that he had a special talent and I knew that one day he would win,’’ Gallant told The Guardian in an interview Tuesday night just before the Charlottetown Curling Club hosted a big party to welcome home the Canadian junior champions.
Friends, family and curlers all packed into the second-floor reception area, some waving signs that read Canadian junior champions while others simply read Team Canada. The team entered the reception area behind a bagpiper, which was drowned out by the deafening cheers.

Click the link to read this story in today’s Guardian

Corrections:  in the list at the bottom of previous Junior champs, it should be Danbrook, not Dunbrook, and it should say Junior men’s champs, or add the fact that the Suzanne Gaudet rink won back-to-back junior women’s championships in 2001 and 2002.