The duo of Rachel O’Connor and Ryan Abraham from the Cornwall Curling Club have advanced to the Monday championship round at the PEI Mixed Doubles Championship at the Crapaud Community Curling Club after winning the A Section Qualifier Game of the modified triple knockout round by a 9-8 score over the team of Jamie Newson and Miranda Ellis from the Silver Fox curling club in Summerside on Saturday afternoon. 

Photo: Rachel O’Connor (left) and Ryan Abraham

The O’Connor/Abraham team didn’t score often in the game, winning only two ends, but when they did, they scored big, picking up five points with hammer in the opening end, and four points in the fourth, building up a big 9-3 lead at the break. The scoring in the second half was all Newson and Ellis, who followed up a deuce with three single steals to come within a point of the winners. 

Photo: Miranda Ellis calls a timeout in the final end, as Jamie Newson looks for a path into the rings

The “B” semi-finals go Sunday morning at  9:30, and  will see O’Connor and Abraham face the defending champion Lauren Ferguson and Calvin Smith rink from the Cornwall and Crapaud Community clubs, while Ellis and Newson play Charlottetown’s Aleya Quilty and Tyler MacKenzie. Ferguson/Smith advanced with an 11-5 win over the Colin MacKenzie and Alexis Burris team from Cornwall, kicking off the game with a five-ender, while Quilty and Tyler MacKenzie beat Summerside’s Jenny McLean and Edward White 8-5. The “B” Final follows at 12:45.

MacKenzie/Burris and McLean White are still alive in the competition, down in the “C” event, and will face Melissa Morrow/Kenny Stewart from the Silver Fox and Crapaud clubs and Lindsay Moore/Steven Thomson from the host club, respectively. at 9:30 am Sunday, with the losers going home. The “C” final is scheduled for 9:30 am Monday.

This year’s Mixed Doubles winning team will advance to the 2019 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, March 19-24 at the Willie O’Ree Place in Fredericton NB.