The Charlottetown Curling Club’s Robert Campbell rink beat their clubmates, the Bill Hope foursome by an 8-3 score this evening to win the M&M Meat Shops Provincial Mixed Curling Championship at the Crapaud Community Curling Club. Campbell, and his team of Rebecca Jean MacPhee, Robbie Doherty, and Jackie Reid, grabbed an early 5-1 lead with a triple in the second end, and a deuce in the fourth, and held on for the win.

The Campbell squad had won the A section of the double-knockout competition with an 11-5 victory over Hope, whose team includes his wife Sandy, along with David Murphy and Shelley Ebbett. Campbell then suffered his only loss in the event, losing a B section qualifier to the Eddie MacKenzie rink, also from Charlottetown, by a 6-4 score. Hope won his B qualifier 7-4 over clubmate Jody Jackson, who had advanced to that game by eliminating defending champion Kyle Stevenson, by an 8-5 score, on Saturday night. Hope then beat MacKenzie 8-3 in the B final to set up the championship game against Campbell.

Campbell is an eight-time provincial men’s winner, but his only other PEI Mixed title was in back in 1988, when he went on to win the 1989 Canadian championship. His team at that time included Angela Roberts, and Mark and Kathy O’Rourke.

The Robert Campbell rink will now advance to the 2011 Canadian Mixed, at the Morris Curling Club in Morris, Manitoba, November 20-27, 2010.

The Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Bill and Sandy Hope, David Murphy, and Shelley Ebbett beat the Eddie MacKenzie team, also from Charlottetown, by an 8-3 score  in the B final of the M&M Meat Shops PEI Mixed Curling Champioship this afternoon at the Crapaud Community Curling Club. They’re now playing the Charlottetown clubmates, the Robert Campbell team, who won the A final of this double knockout event, in the championship game, which got underway at 7 pm. The winner will advance to the Canadian Mixed, at the Morris Curling Club in Morris, Manitoba, November 20-27, 2010. Other members of the Campbell foursome are Rebecca Jean MacPhee, Robbie Doherty, and Jackie Reid.

Todd Kimberley
Tankard Times Associate Editor

HALIFAX, March 7, 2010 – Theft was the name of the game Sunday morning at the Tim Hortons Brier, presented by Monsanto.

Ontario’s Glenn Howard made three critical mid-game steals to stay undefeated, Saskatchewan’s Darrell McKee won his second straight game thanks to an eighth-end pilfer, and Quebec’s Serge Reid swindled points at will for his first victory of the tournament during the third draw of the Canadian men’s curling championship.

Ontario (2-0) and Saskatchewan (2-0) lead the 12-team pack. Kevin Koe of Alberta (1-0) and 2006 Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador (1-0) lead the other undefeated outfits heading into Sunday’s fourth draw, slated for 3 p.m. AT.

Howard, making his fifth straight appearance as Ontario’s skipper, stole single points in the fourth, fifth and sixth ends en route to a 9-4 victory over the Northern Ontario (1-2) crew skipped by Brad Jacobs.

“I’m not super confident yet. The ice is still a little tricky,” said Howard, whose Coldwater and District Curling Club rink includes third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill. “But a great comeback for us. We gave up a bad three in the second end, and came back with a nice deuce, and then plucked away and got a couple of fortunate misses out of Brad.

“It wasn’t working out for them . . . a couple of shots that I would say (Jacobs) doesn’t normally miss, but he did. And fortunately for us, it worked out.”

Saskatchewan, led by Saskatoon skip Darrell McKee, outlasted the formerly undefeated New Brunswick (2-1) outfit of James Grattan 7-4 on Sunday morning. Quebec (1-1) pounded Jamie Koe’s winless Territories (0-3) rink by a 7-3 count, and Jeff Stoughton’s Manitobans (2-1) counted four in the second end on their way to a 9-4 victory over Rod MacDonald’s winless Prince Edward Islanders (0-2).

On Sheet D, McKee’s flatlanders scored a huge steal of one in the eighth end to go up 4-2, after Grattan’s final stone found its way through a narrow port but failed to push Saskatchewan’s shot rock far enough into the back of the rings.

“That was huge. It gave us total control of the game,” said McKee, whose Saskatoon-based quartet from the Nutana Curling Club includes third Bruce Korte, second Roger Korte and lead Rob Markowsky. “The worst we should have been was tied up coming home (which they were), so that was a really big point.

“It’s nice to be 2-0,” added McKee. “The last two Briers we were at, we were 0-2. Nice to get off to a good start. Notoriously, Saskatchewan’s been off to bad starts at the Brier the past few years, other than (skip Pat) Simmons a couple of years ago.”
Grattan, back at the Brier as New Brunswick’s skip for the fourth time, viewed Sunday morning’s loss as a game of missed opportunities.

“We had a bunch of chances early. Both teams did, but I always remember the ones that we had,” said Grattan, whose Gage Golf and Curling Association crew of Oromocto, N.B., includes third Steve Howard, second Jason Vaughan and lead Peter Case. “We had a few chances early to take a few deuces and get away from them a little bit, but we never capitalized.”

As for that Saskatchewan steal in the eighth, “That pretty much ended up being the game changer right there,” said Grattan. “I thought I had it pretty easily. Once I got through the hole, I thought it was going to be fine.”

Reid’s crew from the Kenogami Curling Club of Jonquiere, Que., stole one in the second, one in the third, and two in each of the fourth and fifth ends for a 7-0 lead after five.

“Important for us to get our first win at the Brier. Not so much pressure now,” said Reid, whose team includes third Francois Gionest, second Simon Collin and lead Steeve Villeneuve.

“Our guys curled well, but I didn’t necessarily curl a great game. I missed a couple of easy shots,” added Reid. “But on the other side, we got a lot of breaks.”

As for the ‘Tobans, last year’s runners-up in Calgary, they notched that four-ender in the second on a triple-takeout by Stoughton.

“We were pretty fortunate to get the four-ender there, and we just played well after that,” said Stoughton. “If (MacDonald) doesn’t throw his last one, we have a shot for one. But he lined it up for us, and we were able to get an angle-raise for four.”

Sunday afternoon’s fourth draw pits Quebec vs. Nova Scotia (0-1), Saskatchewan vs. Newfoundland/Labrador, Ontario vs. British Columbia (0-1), and Alberta vs. P.E.I.

There will be a championship game at seven this evening in the M&M Meat Shops Provincial Mixed Curling Championship, being played at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, as the Robert Campbell rink, who win the A final, lost their B qualifier game this morning, and won’t have the opportunity to go home early by winning the B final. Eddie MacKenzie beat Campbell by a 6-4 score, aided by a four point fifth end. Bill Hope stole singles in the last three ends to beat Jody Jackson 7-4. All four rinks are from the Charlottetown Curling Club.

The winner of the 2 pm B final between MacKenzie and Hope will play Campbell in the final, at 7, with the winner advancing to the Canadian Mixed, at the Morris Curling Club in Morris, Manitoba, November 20-27, 2010.

New Brunswick the first day leader at Tim Hortons Brier

Larry Wood, Tankard Times Editor (CCA)

HALIFAX, March 6 – The guy they used to call Jimmy The Kid, resulting from an exciting third-place finish at a Calgary Brier in 1997, emerged the only double winner from Saturday’s opening draws at the 2010 rock concert in the Metro Centre.

New Brunswick’s James Grattan of Oromocto, an Air Canada customer service agent at Fredericton airport, followed up on an 8-6 win over home city favourite Ian Fitzner-LeBlanc in the afternoon by drubbing Jamie Koe of Yellowknife 10-3 on the late shift.

It was a long day for four teams that played two games in addition to Hot Shots and opening ceremonies appearances and the grind almost cost Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton, a Brier co-favourite, with two losses.

Stoughton was fortunate to escape with a split, battling from behind to edge Jeff Richard of B.C. 8-7 in an extra end before dropping an 8-5 verdict to Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario later.

Other one-game winners on Saturday were Glenn Howard of Ontario, Brad Gushue of Newfoundland/Labrador, Darrell McKee of Saskatchewan and Alberta’s Kevin Koe, who also appeared bound to be an upset victim in the afternoon until a steal of two in the seventh end enabled the Edmonton team to wriggle off the hook and roll on to a 9-6 win over Jacobs.

“I’m more confident going into this Brier than others in which I’ve skipped,” said Grattan, who’s skipping for the fourth time and also put in four appearances at third for Russ Howard.

“Having Steve (Howard) around as a third helps. Third is an important position and the guys I’ve brought here in the past weren’t up to Steve’s standard. Nothing against those other guys but Steve’s that much better. Third is an important issue and I’m just much more confident with Steve in there.”

Steve Howard, of course, is Russ’s 25-year-old son. He and dad and the other members of the current gang of Herringchokers played at the Calgary Brier last year as a five-man team.

“It’s nice having him around,” said the 35-year-old Grattan. “He’s just like his old man — in terms of the intensity more than anything. It’s not much different than playing with Russ. Actually, it’s the same except I have Russ playing third for me now.”

Howard thumped Quebec Brier rookie Serge Reid of Kenogami 8-3 Saturday night while McKee shaded Rod MacDonald’s Islanders from Charlottetown 7-6.

Elsewhere in the afternoon, Gushue tripped up Jamie Koe’s Polars 8-5.

“I think experience helped us early in the first game,” said Grattan. “I think we caught on to the ice quicker than those guys.

“I remember my first Brier, I was a little unsure of myself. I think the style of game we played back then was tough the first couple of games of that Brier.

“That was the three-rock rule back then so I wasn’t so sure what I was doing back then. Nowadays you’re trapped into playing the finesse game when you can’t hit the second rock and execution is everything.”

Grattan got better and better in 1997. He finished 9-4.

The young Northern Ontario crew from Sault Ste. Marie began grappling with the toughest opening draw this weekend. Jacobs drew Alberta for openers, then Manitoba, and plays Ontario Sunday morning at 10:30.

“I’d rather have them early than late when they’re hot and they know the ice,” skip Jacobs said. “We’ve talked about it. We can’t get down over these first three, regardless of what happens. They’re three of the four toughest teams here but we believe in ourselves.”

“That was a much better performance,” he said of his team’s evening win, sparked by a four-ender in the second end. “My guys made some huge shots to keep things clean.”

In the afternoon, the Soo crew blew a 5-3 half-time lead.

“I missed a runback, they got their deuce, we had a horrible next end, and went into the tank,” explained Jacob.

It wasn’t a patented day at the Brier for Stoughton, who is playing in his eighth Big One.

“You see that at the Brier across the board,” he said. “Everybody’s getting comfortable with the ice. Everybody’s getting more comfortable where you put the broom for hits, peels and draws. You have to figure to get more misses than expected.”

“What are you going to do?” he added, referring to the four-point spot. “You can’t get that upset about it. We got back into it right up until the ninth end and we had some fun out there. It’s a long week and you have to have fun out there.”

On Sunday, PEI Sunday plays Manitoba (Jeff Stoughton) at 10:30 am, and Alberta (Kevin Koe) at 3 pm.

The combined Charlottetown/Maple Leaf rink of Kyle Hughes, Matthew MacLean, Marshall Smallman, and Jonathan Schut, with coach Shannon Smallman, beat the Alex Matters foursome from Charlottetown by a 7-2 score Saturday evening to win the boys division of the M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championships at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton. MacLean and Smallman, from the Maple Leaf club in O’Leary, were on last year’s winning team, and also won the 17 and Under this year. As the rules permit no more than two players from a team winning a higher age division to be on one team, MacLean and Smallman teamed up with Charlottetown’s Hughes and Schut. Other members of the runner-up Alex Matters rink are Chris Gallant, Kyle Holland, and Andrew Cameron, with coaches Peter Gallant and Derrick Cameron. The third team entered in the boys section, skipped by Brandon MacNevin of the Silver Fox, did not manage to pick up a win in double round robin play, while Hughes and Matters both finished at 4-1, with Matters beating Hughes 7-5 in their first round robin encounter, and Hughes doubling Matters 4-2 in their second game.

Three teams are tied with 3-1 win-loss records, with one round robin draw remaining, Sunday morning at 10:30, in the six team girls section. None of the three teams, skipped by Jenny McLean of the Silver Fox, Veronica Smith of Cornwall, and Caroline Rose of Montague, are playing against another 3-1 team in that draw, with McLean playing Emma Cousins of the Maple Leaf (2-2), Smith facing Emily Keen (1-3) of Charlottetown, and Rose meeting Fallon Arsenault of the Silver Fox, who has yet to pick up a win. If a definitive winner can be determined out of the round robin, no championship round will be needed. If not, semi-final rounds at 2 and 5 pm would be required.