The Bill Hope rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex and the Cornwall Curling Club, and the defending champion Ted MacFadyen team from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex are both undefeated after opening day play at the men’s Curl PEI Masters Curling Championship being played at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, and have advanced to the “A” section finals at 9:30 am Saturday. Seven men’s rinks are taking part. The women’s title was won by default by the defending champion Sandy Hope rink from Cornwall – the only entry. Masters curlers are age 60 and over.
Hope blanked the Silver Fox rink skipped by Dario Zannier 8-0 in his opener, and then beat another Fox team, captained by Louis Walsh, in his second game to advance to the A section final of the modified triple knockout draw. MacFadyen beat Clair Sweet and his host club team 5-2 in the first draw, and doubled Dale Cannon of the Silver Fox 8-4 in his second match to go to the A section final.
Walsh defeated Silver Fox clubmate Des Arsenault in his opener to advance to the game against Hope. Stuart Graves moved up to skip the Zannier rink in game 2, and pulled out a 7-2 win over Sweet in B pool action this afternoon.
With the “modified” triple knockout format, the section winners and runners-up drop down to compete in the next section. It’s Sweet vs Walsh, and Graves vs Cannon in 9:30 am B pool action on Saturday, with the Sweet/Walsh winner playing MacFadyen and 1:30 pm, and the Cannon/Graves winner taking on Walsh at the same time. The winners advance to the “B” section final at 5:30 Saturday.
The “C” semi-finals and final go Sunday at 10 am and 2 pm. If a team wins all three sections, the event will end then. If not, the section finalists advance to the championship round on Monday, also at 10 and, if needed, 2 pm.
Winning and runner-up teams advance to the Maritime Masters, March 16-18 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Community Complex in Summerside.
The winning Men’s and Women’s teams also earn the right to compete in the Canadian Masters, April 3-9 in Guelph, Ontario.
Event website: peicurling.com/masters20162017/
Link to end by end live scoring: peicurling.com/scoreboard/#!/competitions/2190