The Maritime Stick Curling Championship wrapped up on Thursday at the Gage Curling Club in Oromocto New Brunswick, with PEI teams taking on some very experienced opponents to win both the Open (any combination of two male and/or female curlers) and Women’s divisions.
The format for the event allows each province to send 4 open teams and 2 women’s teams.
PEI was represented by reigning Canadian champs Roddie MacLean and Paul Field (Cornwall), along with Vince Fisher and Kimball Blanchard (Cornwall), Walter Callaghan and Roger Gavin (Western Communiity in Alberton), and Bazil and Sterling Higginbotham (Montague) in the Open division. Current PEI women’s champs Elaine Hughes and Etta Reid (Cornwall), along with 4-time PEI champs Gloria Clarke and Ruth Stavert (Cornwall) were the PEI representatives in the women’s division.
File photo (L-R): MacLean and Field at last year’s Canadian 2 Person Stick Curling Ch’ship
MacLean and Field defeated the Higginbothams in an all-PEI final to win the Open Championship. This is the first time in the 6 years of the event that it was not won by a Nova Scotia team. The Callaghan – Gavin duo finished their division play with a 5-0 record but were eliminated by the MacLean- Field team in the quarter-final.
The women’s division was won by Clarke –Stavert when they defeated a team from Yarmouth by stealing a point in the final end of the game. This marks the 4th win by Clarke- Stavert team in the 5 year history of the women’s division. PEI women remain undefeated in the championship games as the remaining year was won by the Shirley Lank and Audrey Callaghan duo. As a rookie team in the event, Hughes –Reid finished with a respectable 2-3 record missing the playoffs when they lost a tie-breaker.