Shirley Berry and Ted MacFadyen rinks wins PEI Masters titles
Shirley Berry rink (L-R): Shirley Berry, Sandy Hope, Arleen Harris, Evelyn Rogerson
Ted MacFadyen rink (L-R): Ted MacFadyen, Lou Nowlan, Earle Proude, Alan Montgomery
The Shirley Berry rink from the Cornwall and Silver Fox curling clubs are the 2014 PEI Masters women’s champs, beating their clubmates and defending champions the Diane MacKay team 11-3 in this afternoon’s final at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside. Berry also won the event in 2012. Her teammates this time are Sandy Hope, Arleen Harris, and Evelyn Rogerson, with coaches Butch McGee and Bill Hope.
MacKay stole the first end in the final, but Berry responded with five points in the second end. MacKay took a deuce in three, but a pair of triples in the next two ends by the Berry squad brought the game to a speedy conclusion. Other members of the runner-up MacKay team are Valerie MacLean, Lynne Thiele, and Donna Boulter.
MacKay edged the Norma Sonier team from the host club by a 6-5 score in this morning’s semi-final. Sonier led 4-0 after two ends, but MacKay took the next four ends, including a deuce in the fifth to take the lead. The Gloria Clarke rink from Cornwall were the fourth team in the event. They finished double round robin play with a 2 and 4 record and did not advance to the playoff round. Berry had a bye to the final after finishing the double round robin in first place with a 4-2 record, while Sonier and MacKay finished at 3-3.
Ted MacFadyen and his host club team took the men’s title, beating the John Holmes rink, also from the Fox, 8-5 in this afternoon’s final. Playing with MacFadyen were Lou Nowlan and Earle Proude, who were both on last year’s championship team, skipped by Mel Bernard, along with lead stone Alan Montgomery. Holmes was unable to play today, so third Des Arsenault moved up from third to the skip position, with Stephen Bent moving from second to third, Harry Williams sparing at second stone, and George Power playing lead.
In today’s final, MacFadyen, who played third for Mel Bernard when his team, which also included Nowlan and Proude, won the event in 2011 and 2012, grabbed an early five-point lead with a triple in the first and a stolen deuce in the second end. Arsenault took singles in the next two ends, the teams traded deuces in the next two ends, and singles in the two after that to give MacFadyen the win, by three points.
MacFadyen qualified first in the triple knockout round, and won the Page A vs B game over Holmes to earn a bye to this afternoon’s final.
The Holmes team doubled Brian Ellis from the Crapaud Community Curling Club 8-4 in this morning’s semi-final, recovering quickly from an Ellis triple in the opening end, with a single and a deuce in the next two ends. Another stole deuce, in the seventh gave them a 7-4 lead coming home. They also stole the final end to win by a four point margin.
Event winners Berry and MacFadyen, along with runners-up MacKay and Holmes, have earned the right to compete in the Maritime Masters Championships, March 14-17 at the Cornwall Curling Club.. The Berry and MacFadyen, or the highest-finishing men’s and women’s rinks that choose to attend, are invited to participate in the 2014 ATB Financial Canadian Masters Championships, March 31 to Apr. 6 at the Coaldale Granite Curling Club in Coaldale Alberta. Masters curlers are age 60 and over.