Photo (L-R): Donald Clarey, Larry Richards, Mike Clarey, Cameron Lerch
 

The Clarey team, which includes Larry Richards, Mike Clarey, and Cameron Lerch, with fifth player Elliot Morrison, beat the Kevin Ellsworth rink from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton by a 7-3 score in this afternoon’s final. Clarey picked up a deuce in the first end, with Ellsworth blanking the second and taking only a single in the third, before Clarey recorded a triple in the fourth for a 5-1 lead at the half.  Clarey followed an Ellsworth single in five with a deuce in six. Ellsworth picked up a single in seven, but ran out of rocks in the eighth. Other members of the runner-up Kevin Ellsworth rink are Fred Fraser, Alan Gaudet, and Gifford Costain.

Clarey, Ellsworth, and Dave Ross of Charlottetown all finished round robin play with 5-1 win-loss records. After draws to the button results were compared, Ellsworth was awarded first place, and advanced directly to the final. Ellsworth and Ross squared off in the semi-final earlier this afternoon, with Clarey winning by a 7-4 score.

Photo (L-R) Shirley Lank, event organizer and PEICA President, Jeanne Duffenais, Kim Aylward, Michelle Weaver, Debbie Caissy, Audrey Callaghan, PEICA Vice President 

The Jeanne Duffenais team was skipped by Kim Aylward when the team won their club’s title, but, as Aylward had to miss some of the earlier games in the provincial, Duffenais skipped this event, with Aylward playing third. Michelle Weaver throwing second stones, and Debbie Caissy in the lead position. They defeated the Lorianne Davies rink from the host Cornwall Curling Club in an exciting come-from-behind extra-end game by a 9-7 score in the final.

After a steal of two in the fifth, Davies was in front by a 6-2 score after five ends, but Duffenais picked up a single in the sixth, and stole four points in the seventh to grab a one point lead. Davies picked up a single in the eighth to tie the game, but Duffenais had last rock advantage in the extra, and scored a deuce to pick up the win. Other members of the runner-up Davies team are third Melody Beck, second Tracy MacDonald, and lead Lynda Turnbull.

Davies went undefeated in round robin play, while Duffenais had a 3-2 win-loss record. Three teams, skipped by defending champion Vanessa Hamming of Crapaud, Sharon Horne of the Western Community Club in Alberton, and Micki Cageorge of Charlottetown were 2-3, and played tiebreakers to determine third place. with Horne blanking Hamming 7-0 in the first tiebreaker, and beating Cageorge 10-2 in the second. Duffenais edged Horne 7-6 to advance to the final against first-place Davies.

The winning teams will return to Cornwall, and to the Charlottetown Curling Club for the national The Dominion Curling Club Championship, co-hosted by the two clubs from November 23-28.

Club champions from all seven PEI curling clubs took part in this event, which is designed to give regular club curlers across the country an opportunity to compete in provincial and national level competitions. Any profit generated from provincial or national Dominion Curling Club Championship events will be directed to charities including the Canadian Paraplegic Association, as well as developmental curling initiatives in communities across Canada.

Fullerton and Casey both went through round robin play with 3-1 records, with Casey beating Fullerton 7-3 in their round robin encounter, but losing to 10-4 to Alberton’s Colton Griffin rink in an earlier game. By coming first and second in the round robin, both teams advanced directly to today’s championship game.

The other teams in the 20 and Under division were skipped by Griffin, and by Spencer Pitre of Charlottetown, both of whom finished with 2-2 records, and by Cody Dixon of Montague, who did not pick up a win.

On Saturday afternoon, the Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Alex Matters, Emily Keen, Andrew Cameron, and Emma Matheson, with coach Derrick Cameron, captured the 15 and Under division, winning three straight in their best of five series against the combined Charlottetown/Silver Fox team skipped by Christopher Gallant. Other members of the Gallant team are Jenny McLean, Kyle Holland, and Lauren MacFadyen, with coach Dr. Don Vickerson. The scores in the three games were 6-1, 6-3. and 5-4.

Next up for the Islanders is British Columbia, at 4 (men) and 8:30 pm (women) Atlantic.

Alberta, Sask., and NB currently lead the women’s standings, at 2-0, while Albarta, Quebec, BC, Northern Ont. and Sask. all have one win on the men’s side.

Rod MacDonald throws fourth stones for the Peter MacDonald rink, with Peter calling the game and throwing second. Peter Gallant throws third, with Doug MacGregor throwing lead stones.

The Shirley Berry rink includes third Sandy Hope, second Shelley Ebbett, and lead Arleen Harris.

SWIFT CURRENT, March 20, 2010 — The Stars and Stripes were waving furiously at the Ford World women’s curling championship on opening day.

U.S. skip Erika Brown of Madison, Wis., directed her American champion team of Nina Spatola, Ann Swisshelm and Laura Hallisey to the front of the pack after two draws at the Credit Union iplex.

Brown polished off Japanese veteran Moe Meguro of Aomori 10-3 on the late shift Saturday after earlier rallying with three stolen points in the latter stages en route to an 8-6 afternoon conquest of Russia’s entry skipped by Anna Sidorova of Moscow.

“It feels great,” said Brown, when informed she would carry the day alone on top of the 12-team standings with a 2-and-0 record. “We’d better take a picture of the scoreboard. This is just what we had planned. It’s where we wanted to be, obviously.”

Brown’s outfit was the last of the 12 teams to be decided for the Ford Worlds, having won its U.S. Nationals a mere week ago.

“I honestly feel we did have that advantage today,” said Brown. “Just based on our circumstances. We hadn’t had a lot of ice time together, so we had 12 great well-played games together at the Nationals and finished on a high note, took a few days off and went right back at it. That was our plan the whole season. We always knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of time so we were ready for it.”

The Yanks stole five points from Japan in the third and fourth ends for a 6-0 lead, after which it was a runaway.

In the opener, Brown twice missed draws that cost her points but she had the debate square after five ends, then stole in front with a critical deuce in the sixth, which severely deflated the Russians. In the end, that deuce proved the margin of victory although Brown needed a double in the 10th to secure the verdict.

Elsewhere, Canada’s Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg survived an early scare against a young Swedish team two years out of junior competition before stealing three in the sixth end and another in the seventh to turn around their opener and prance away to a 9-6 win.

Karlstad skip Cecilia Ostlund, 22, had Canada on the run for four ends, scoring deuce, single, deuce after Jones drew the four-foot for a single while looking at a first-end Swedish pair.

But the relatively inexperienced Swedish skip rubbed off a rock of her own in the fifth, leaving Jones a draw for two.. Then the Swedish sweepers miscalculated on Ostlund’s out-turn draw to the four-foot against four in the sixth and the Swedish rock ground to a halt, cutting out only one of the four Canuck counters.

“We got outplayed at the start, we couldn’t get our rocks in the right spots, we had a couple of zeroes every end and just didn’t perform the way we wanted to,” Jones said of the game’s first half. “And they played awesome, they were on fire.

“But our philosophy always has been that when we’re down we keep trying to get a good feel for the ice and get something out of a game. Experience isn’t necessary but it doesn’t hurt. We know we can come back. We’ve done it a few times.  You’ve got to have wins like this along the way. We had to make some good shots with our backs to the wall and that’s good for us.”

Ostlund was suspicious first-night nerves cost her team.

“We were quite nervous,” she admitted. “It was our first game in our first world championship. It was just nice to have the good start and have the lead. We must take that with us when we play our next game.”

In other late tiffs, Norway’s Linn Githmark shaded Binia Feltscher of Switzerland 7-6 without requiring the hammer when the Swiss skip wrecked on her last shot.

Russia, with Anna Sidorova skipping, rebounded from the afternoon loss to defeat the rookie Latvian crew skipped by Iveta Stasa-Sarsune 4-2.

Denmark faces China in a battle of first-day losers Sunday morning at 8:30 while Scotland goes against Germany, both first-day winners.

The host club’s Lorianne Davies rink, which includes Melody Beck, Tracy MacDonald, and Lynda Turnbull, finished round robin play with a perfect 5-0 record, and advances directly to this afternoon’s women’s final. The Kim Aylward rink from the Silver Fox, with teammates Jeanne Duffenais, Michelle Weaver, and Debbie Caissy, finished second with a 3-2 win-loss record, and will play in the 2 pm semi-final. There was a three-way tie for third at 2-3 after round robin play, with Sharon Horne of Alberton’s Western Community club blanking defending champion Vanessa Hamming of Crapaud 7-0 in the first tiebreaker on Saturday night. Horne will now play Charlottetown’s Micki Cageorge rink in the second tiebreaker at 10 am, with the winner of that game facing Aylward in the semi-final. The winner of the semi then plays Davies for the title.

In the men’s section, the Dave Ross rink from Charlottetown were undefeated going into last night’s final round robin draw, but lost their game against Western’s Kevin Ellsworth team by a 7-3 score, putting them into a three way tie for first with Ellsworth, and Montague’s Donald Clarey rink. After draw to the button records were compared, Ellsworth was awarded first place, and advances directly to the 5 pm final. Second place Clarey and third place Ross square off in the 2 pm semi-final, with the winner playing Ellsworth in the final.

Other members of the Kevin Ellsworth rink are Fred Fraser, Allan Gaudet, and Gifford Costain. Playing with Donald Clarey are Larry Richards, Elliot Morrison, and Cameron Lerch, with fifth player Mike Clarey. Nick Fraser, Paul Gaudet, and Lester Wah round out the Ross team.

On Saturday afternoon, the Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Alex Matters, Emily Keen, Andrew Cameron, and Emma Matheson, with coach Derrick Cameron, captured the 15 and Under division, winning three straight in their best of five series against the combined Charlottetown/Silver Fox rink skipped by Christopher Gallant. Other members of the Gallant team are Jenny McLean, Kyle Holland, and Lauren MacFadyen, with coach Dr. Don Vickerson. The scores in the three games were 6-1, 6-3. and 5-4.

In the 20 and Under division, the Adam Casey team from Charlottetown handed the combined Cornwall and Silver Fox Sarah Fullerton foursome their first loss  in the final round robin draw on Saturday night, by a 7-3 score. Both teams finished round robin play with 3-1 records, and advanced to the 1st vs 2nd place final, Sunday at 2 pm.  Casey’s teammates are his sister Anita Casey, along with Anson Carmody and Hillary Thompson and coach Jeff Wilson, while Justin Richard, Sara MacRae, and Corey Miller, with coach Brenda MacMillan round out the Fullerton squad.

Also on Saturday night, the Spencer Pitre team from Charlottetown eliminated a possible tiebreaker for the Colton Griffin rink from Alberton’s Western Community club, by edging the Western rink by a 5-4 score. This left both teams out of the playoffs with 2-2 records. The fifth rink in the division, skipped by Cody Dixon of Montague was 0-4 in the event.

On Saturday afternoon, the Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Alex Matters, Emily Keen, Andrew Cameron, and Emma Matheson, with coach Derrick Cameron, captured the 15 and Under division, winning three straight in their best of five series against the combined Charlottetown/Silver Fox rink skipped by Christopher Gallant. Other members of the Gallant team are Jenny McLean, Kyle Holland, and Lauren MacFadyen, with coach Dr. Don Vickerson. The scores in the three games were 6-1, 6-3. and 5-4.

Meanwhile, going into the final round robin draw at 7 pm Saturday evening, the Sarah Fullerton rink from Cornwall and the Silver Fox are the only undefeated rink in the 20 and Under division, with a 3-0 record. They face the Adam Casey rink from Charlottetown, who are in third place at 2-1, after losing 10-4 to Colton Griffin of Western this afternoon. Griffin is also 2-1, but as he beat Casey, is in second place. Griffin plays Spencer Pitre, who is in fourth place at 1-2, tonight. The top three teams advance to the Sunday championship round, with Fullerton assured of a berth. A Casey loss, combined with a Pitre win would tie the other three teams in contention at 2-2. The Cody Dixon rink from Montague are out of playoff contention at 0-4.

There will be one less undefeated women’s team after the noon Saturday draw, when these two teams face off. Defending champion Vanessa Hamming from Crapaud, Sharon Horne from Alberton’s Western Community club, and Charlottetown’s Micki Cageorge have one win against two losses on the women’s side, while June Moyaert and her Montague rink are 0-3.

In games today, Aylward took a five-ender in a lopsided 13-1 win over Cageorge, and beat Moyaert 6-2. Davies stole triples in both a 9-2 win over Hamming, and a 7-2 victory over Horne.

In Friday men’s play, Ross beat Barry Cameron of the Silver Fox 9-2, and Cornwall’s Roddie MacLean 9-2. 

Kevin Ellsworth of Alberton and Donald Clarey of Montague are next in the men’s standings, with 3-1 and 2-1 record, respectively.  Kevin Smith of Crapaud, along with Cameron and MacLean are 1-2. Glen Betts of the Maple Leaf is winless in four starts.

Round robin play wraps up Saturday with men’s draws at 9:30 am and 2:30 and 8 pm, and women’s games at 12 noon and 5:30 pm. The championship round goes Sunday with the second and third place teams playing in the semi-finals at 1 pm, and the semi winner facing the first place team in the 5 pm finals.

The winning teams will advance to the national The Dominion Curling Club Championship, co-hosted by the Cornwall and Charlottetown curling clubs, November 23-28.

Fullerton, with teammates Justin Richard, Sara MacRae, and Corey Miller, and coach Brenda MacMillan, took four points in the first end of her opener, and hung on for a 7-6 win over the Spencer Pitre team from Charlottetown.  The Fullerton team then stole a triple in the first end of their second game, against Colton Griffin of the Western Community club in Alberton, and won by a 7-5 score.

Casey, whose team includes Anita Casey, Anson Carmody, and Hillary Thompson, with coach Jeff Wilson, doubled Cody Dixon of Montague 6-3 in his opener, and had a second round bye. Pitre won his second game, over Dixon, picking up seven points in ends six and seven in an 11-7 come-from-behind win, to finish the day at an even 1-1. Griffin is 0-1,  while Dixon is 0-2.

In the 15 and Under division, Matters, with teammates Emily Keen, Andrew Cameron, and Emma Matheson, with coach Derrick Cameron, won his first game 6-1 over Gallant, and his second by a 6-3 score.  Other members of the Gallant team are Jenny McLean, Kyle Holland, and Lauren MacFadyen. Dr. Don Vickerson is their coach.

Play continues Saturday at 11 am, and 2 and 7 pm. and wraps up on Sunday.