LIFT your rocks high

                   anD get ready to slide INto

         the silver fox curling and yacht club

            summerside, p.e.i.   feb. 13-14 2009

                                  for thE 9^th annual

        foxy lady bonspiel

      for the trials of the twenty-ten olYMPIC 

                       sport of women’S curling

       bring your brooms and raise them high as we join our fellow teammates for a weekend     

           of fun, laughter and food 

            at this year’s annual event

              teams from all over the world

                 (or at least the maritimeS)

will dress up to represent the nation for which they are curling, with hopes of A gold, silver or bronze medal

(prizes given for best costumes)

    limited to the first 36 countries

      120.00 per team 3 games (points)

               to register contact

      sheila compton   at       pudgesc@pei.sympatico.ca

      or phone 902-436-5629 fax 888-3969 

The Pepsi Junior Provincial Curling Championships, for curlers age 20 and under, takes place January 2-6 at the Charlottetown Curling Club.

Three-time defending champion Brett Gallant is back looking to defend his junior men’s title, while Erin Carmody is looking for her third consecutive junior women’s crown. Gallant has one lineup change this year, with Jamie Danbrook, from last year’s British Columbia junior championship rink, and now attending school in PEI, stepping in to replace Alex MacFadyen, who is attending school in Nova Scotia. Darcy Birch joins the Carmody rink at lead, with Lisa Moeirke moving to the Katie Sharkey rink.

Other contenders in the nine-team junior men’s section, include two-time 17 and under champions the Sam Ramsay rink of Summerside, and the Spencer Pitre rink of Alberton, last year’s runners-up, along with Charlottetown teams skipped by Mitchell O’Shea, Patrick Shepherd, Nick van Ouwerkerk and Tyler Davies, the Matthew Nabuurs rink from Montague, and the Parker Clements foursome from the Maple Leaf club in O’Leary,

The junior women’s side also has nine teams, and includes the Sarah Fullerton team, two-time 17 and Under winners, from Cornwall, along with their clubmates the Sarah Clow and Tricia Sanderson rinks. Katie Sharkey and Lindsay Hughes are skipping teams from Charlottetown, while Tiffany Sweet and Nikki Arsenault are the entries from the Maple Leaf. Besides Carmody, the Silver Fox is represented by the Anita Casey team.

Both the junior men’s and junior women’s divisions will play a triple-knockout draw, with the winners of the three sections advancing to a two game playoff round, unless the same team wins all three sections, in which case they will become the champion without the need for the playoffs.

Play gets underway in Charlottetown Friday morning at 8, with subsequent draws at 11:30 am, along with a 2 pm draw at the Cornwall Curling Club, and a 4 pm draw back at Charlottetown.

Saturday and Sunday draws are at 8, 11:30, 4, and 7:30. Monday draws are at 9:30 am and 2:30 pm, while the two game championship round (if needed), goes Tuesday, also at 9:30 am and 2:30 pm.

The winning junior men’s and women’s rinks will advance to the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Salmon Arm BC, Jan. 31-Feb. 8.

Team Rosters:

Junior Men’s (skip to lead, coach, club)

Matthew Nabuurs, Kevin Rice, Mark Nabuurs, Keaghan Matheson, coach Arny Nabuurs, Montague Curling Club

Sam Ramsay, Justin Richard, Eric Pidgeon, Corey Miller, coach Peter Pidgeon, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club

Spencer Pitre, Billie Lewis, Daniel McCarthy, Shawn Pitre, coach Roger Gavin, Western Community Curling Club (Alberton)

Brett Gallant, Adam Casey, Anson Carmody, Jamie Danbrook, coaches Peter Gallant, Kathie Gallant, Charlottetown Curling Club

Parker Clements, Mitch Rowley, Brandon Clements, Mark Cousins, coaches Keith Rowley, Reggie Clements, Maple Leaf Curling Club (O’Leary)

Tyler Davies, Patrick Moore, Joey Farquhar, Jonathon Schut, coach Lorianne Davies, Charlottetown Curling Club

Nick van Ouwerkerk, Timothy Cullen, Brent Campbell, Patrick Callbeck, coach Robbie Roberts, Charlottetown Curling Club

Patrick Shepherd, Adam Kassner, Taylor McInnis, Kyle Hughes, coach Butch McGee, Charlottetown Curling Club

Mitchell O’Shea, Jonah MacDonald, Michael LeBlanc, Connor MacPhee, coach A.J. Campbell, Charlottetown Curling Club

Junior Women’s (skip to lead, coach, club)

Sarah Fullerton, Michelle McQuaid, Whitney Young, Sara MacRae, coach Brenda MacMillan, Cornwall Curling Club

Katie Sharkey, Alexis Wright, Lisa Moerike, Martha MacIntyre, coaches Kathy O’Rourke and Pam Wright, Charlottetown Curling Club

Anita Casey, Madeline Campbell, Dannielle Chaisson, Bethany MacDonald coach Leo Stewart, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)

Erin Carmody, Geri-Lynn Ramsay, Jessica van Ouwerkerk, Darcee Birch coach Al Ledgerwood, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)

Sarah Clow, Brielle Quilty, Christina Hennessey, Courtney Moore, coaches Nancy Yeo, Angela Hodgson, Cornwall Curling Club

Tiffany Sweet, Chantal Clements, Kathleen O’Meara, Laura O’Meara, coach Ralph Sweet, Maple Leaf Curling Club (O’Leary)

Nikki Arsenault, Marlana Lockhart, Marissa McCarthy, Meaghan Henderson, coaches Connie Ellis, Eric McCarthy, Maple Leaf Curling Club

Lindsay Hughes, Christina Keen, Victoria Evans, Monica Leblanc, coach Gayle Johnston, Charlottetown Curling Club

Tricia Sanderson, Amanda Holm , Aleya Quilty, Krystal Peterson, 5th player Kelli-Lynn Younker, coach Pat Quilty, Cornwall Curling Club

Here are the opening draws:

Draw 1: Friday, January 2nd, 8 am at the Charlottetown Curling Club

Sarah Fullerton (Cornwall) vs

Erin Carmody (Silver Fox)Tricia Sanderson (Cornwall) vs Sarah Clow (Cornwall)

Anita Casey (Silver Fox) vs Katie Sharkey (Ch’town)

Tiffany Sweet (Maple Leaf) vs Nikki Arsenault (Maple Leaf)

Draw 2: Friday, January 2nd, 11:30 am at Charlottetown

Parker Clements (Maple Leaf) vs Nick van Ouwerkerk (Ch’town)

Patrick Shepherd (Ch’town) vs Brett Gallant (Ch’town)

Tyler Davies (Ch’town) vs Sam Ramsay (Silver Fox)

Mitchell O’Shea (Ch’town) vs Spencer Pitre (Western)

Draw 3: Friday, January 2nd, 2:00 pm at the Cornwall Curling Club

Lindsay Hughes (Ch’town) vs winner Fullerton/Carmody game at 8 am.

Draw 4: Friday, January 2nd, 4 pm at Charlottetown

Matthew Nabuurs (Montague) vs winner Clements/van Ouwerkerk game at 8 am

Complete draw, schedule, and end-by-end results at peicurling.com/juniors

CAMROSE, Alberta, December 21 (CCA)…. Team World evened the score with North America, at three wins apiece, by taking the sixth Continental Cup, presented by Monsanto, 208-192.

The end came early in the 55-point men’s Skins game between Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud and Canada’s Kevin Martin, the acknowledged master of Skins Games and reigning world champion.

Team World entered the final game needing only eight points to claim the Cup, leading North America, 193-152, after Sweden’s Anette Norberg had defeated Canada’s Jennifer Jones, 41-14 in the morning’s 55-point women’s Skins game. So Martin’s unenviable task was to either take skins or force carryovers.

After the teams traded four-point skins in the first two ends, it meant that Martin had to sweep the rest of the game. After a third-end carryover, when Martin couldn’t count a deuce on a hit, it was left to Ulsrud for the fourth-end heroics.

With hammer, he made an incredible triple-raise takeout with his last stone, removing a Martin rock biting the button, and sticking around for a deuce and the 11-point skin. That elevated the World total to 208, seven more than necessary to claim the Cup.

“We got that early skin, so I told the guys, if we get one, we’re going to win the Cup,” commented Ulsrud, a two-time world bronze medallist. “So we then thought there would be pressure on him (Martin). We had a big head start going into it (final game).

On his clinching shot, Ulsrud said, “That was a nice way to win it. That was probably a tough shot. I’m guessing maybe one out of five I make in practice…maybe not even that. That was just a beautiful feeling. I told the guys we’re going to get some chances, but not many against Kevin, so we’ll take the first one.

“After that, it was tough to stay focused. I didn’t think we were going to play through (the full eight ends), so I guess my mind was somewhere else. This is beautiful. I just hope it (the Cup) comes back. This is the best experience I’ve had in my curling career.”

While the teams continued to finish out the game over the remaining four ends, it was simply a formality, as Martin eventually won 40-15.

Among the World roster, it was the third Cup win for Sweden’s Anette Norberg, Cathrine Lindahl and Anna Svärd. Dual Cup winners are Scotland’s David Murdoch, Ewan MacDonald and Euan Byers and Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, Valeria Spälty and Janine Greiner.

World captain Pål Trulsen is also a previous two-time winner of the Continental Cup as a player, while world coach Peja Lindholm was a member of winning Team Europe in 2003.

“There’s a couple of ways to look at it,” said Martin, who was also a member of the winning North America side at the inaugural Cup, when the men’s Skins game went down to last rock between him and Sweden’s Peja Lindholm.

“The biggest thing is we couldn’t play our normal Skins game, but we were in a situation where we couldn’t miss many. We kind of had to play real defensive and go as long as we could and try to survive. But (after Ulsrud clinched it) we played like a normal Skins game. The carryover was expensive, too, but he made a great shot to take it.”

The Continental Cup, the first event in curling’s Season of Champions, involves Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points). The first side to score 201 points is the winner. Each member of the winning team received $2,000 while each losing team member got $1,400.

North America held a 3-2 edge in Cup victories entering the 2008 edition, winning the inaugural Cup in 2002 in Regina, then renewals in Medicine Hat in 2004 and 2007. The World (formerly Team Europe) won in 2003 in Thunder Bay and 2006 in Chilliwack.

The Continental Cup is a joint venture of the Canadian Curling Association, the United States Curling Association and the World Curling Federation.

While there will definitely not be a Continental Cup in 2009 (the space on the Canadian curling calendar will be taken by the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, December 6-13 in Edmonton) no decision has been made yet whether to continue the unique international Ryder Cup-like competition, possibly in 2010.

The Game started out on a good note for MacDonald and by the 4th end was leading 4 to 1. The opposition team scored 2 in the 4th end to make it 4-3 with Daryl still ahead. During the 5th end, Daryl’s team sent their rocks down the ice and continued to stay in the house after knocking a few of the opposition’s rocks clear. The skip of the opposing team needed to tuck his last rock in behind one of MacDonald’s, but did not manage to hide it from Daryl. With MacDonald’s last rock, he was able to come down into the house and hit the other team’s rock out of the house and stay with his shooter leaving an 8 Ender for the MacDonald Team.

 December 15, 2008 (CCA)…The sixth edition of the Continental Cup of Curling, presented by Monsanto, gets underway Thursday in Camrose, Alberta, when Team North America takes on Team World in the unique four-day competition.

This year’s Continental Cup will be played in the 2,300-seat EnCana Arena at the Edgeworth Centre, bringing together most of the world’s finest curlers in the Ryder Cup-like event, which provides each member of the winning team with $2,000, while each losing team member gets $1,400.

The World (formerly Team Europe) will be looking to even the score against North America at three wins apiece. The sides have alternated claiming the Cup since its inception in 2002, with 2005 a bye year. North America won the inaugural Continental Cup in Regina in 2002, then renewals in Medicine Hat in 2004 and 2007. The World won in 2003 in Thunder Bay and 2006 in Chilliwack.

Team World is headed by Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott and Scotland’s David Murdoch, fresh from their triumphs at the Le Gruyère European Championships in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden on Saturday. Ott, a two-time (2002, 2006) Olympic silver medallist, won her second Euro title, defeating Sweden’s Anette Norberg, the defending champion, in the final, while Murdoch, the 2006 world champion, successfully defended his title by winning his third European championship.

Joining them are Norberg, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist, two-time (2005, 2006) world champion and seven-time European champion, Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, the Euro runner-up for the second consecutive year and two-time (2006, 2008) world bronze medallist, China’s Bingyu Wang, the 2008 Ford world women’s silver medallist, and Fengchun Wang, fourth place finisher at the 2008 world men’s, both of whom also won the recent Pacific Championships. 2002 Olympic gold medallist Pål Trulsen of Norway is the World captain while the coach will be Sweden’s Peja Lindholm, a three-time (1997, 2001, 2004) world champion.

Team North America consists of four teams from Canada and two teams from the United States. Leading the hosts are the reigning world champions, Edmonton’s Kevin Martin and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones. They are joined by teams skipped by Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon, Edmonton’s Kevin Koe and Madison, Wisconsin’s 2003 world champion Debbie McCormick and Craig Brown, the current USA champions. Russ Howard, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist and two-time (1987, 1993) world champion, will be the captain for North America while Jim Waite is the coach.

Norberg is a two-time (2003, 2006) Cup winner, while Ott and Murdoch were also members of the winning World (Europe) side in 2006. Martin was a member of the winning North America side in 2002, while Jones and McCormick were teammates last year when the hosts won again in Medicine Hat.

TSN and TSN2 will provide complete live national coverage of the competition, encompassing 28 hours, similar to what The Sports Network did for the first three Continental Cups from 2002-2004.

The Continental Cup, the first event in curling’s Season of Champions, involves Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points). The first side to score 201 points is declared the winner.

The Continental Divide, the event’s entertainment centre, will be located in the adjacent Border Paving Arena. Full event, weekend, day and individual draw passes are on sale through Ticketmaster (780-451-8000 or Ticketmaster.ca). For more event information, visit Seasonofchampions.ca.

The Continental Cup is a joint venture of the Canadian Curling Association, the United States Curling Association and the World Curling Federation. For live scoring, go to www.curling.ca.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (All times Mountain; Atlantic time: +3 hours)

Wednesday, December 17
11:30 am – 1:00 pm Team World Practice
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Team North America Practice
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Sponsors Reception – Arena
5:00 pm – 7:15 pm Opening Banquet – Arena
7:30 pm – 8:15 pm Opening Ceremonies – Arena

Thursday, December 18
Draw 1 8:30 am Women’s Team Games
Draw 2 1:00 pm Mixed Doubles
Draw 3 7:00 pm Men’s Team Games

Friday, December 19
Draw 4 8:30 am Women’s Team Games
Draw 5 1:00 pm Mixed Doubles
Draw 6 8:00 pm Men’s Team Games

Saturday, December 20
Draw 7 10:00 am Skins Games (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed A)
Draw 8 4:00 pm Singles
Draw 9 7:30 pm Skins Games (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed B)

Sunday, December 21
Draw 10 8:30 am Final Women’s Skins Game (C)
Draw 11 2:00 pm Final Men’s Skins Game (C)
4:15 pm Closing Ceremonies
5:00 pm Champions Reception

ALBERTON — Mel Bernard skimmed past rocks on the top of the 12-foot with his hammer shot in the eighth end to make a takeout and stick for two and the game in the championship final of the P.E.I. Curling Association’s provincial senior mixed championship.

Click to read this story in today’s Journal-Pioneer.

The Mel Bernard foursome, which includes third Jeanne Duffenais, second Earle Proude, and lead Helen MacDonald, edged defending champions and Silver Fox clubmates the Blair Jay foursome 7-6 on Sunday afternoon to win the 2008-2009 Provincial Senior Mixed Curling Championship. Other members of the Jay team are Barbara Currie, Douglas Simmons and Debbie MacMurdo.

Summerside’s Jay beat Cornwall’s Geoff Scutt rink 8-2 in the semi-final on Sunday morning to advance to the 2 pm final against Bernard, who finished atop the round robin standings, with a 4-1 win-loss record, and advanced directly to the final match.  Jay and Scutt both had 3-2 round robin records, but Jay beat Scutt in their exciting round robin encounter on Friday, by stealing an extra-end triple, to take second place honours.

Bob MacWilliams of Cornwall, the 2006 event winner, and Donald Clarey of Montague, finished play at 2-3, with Walter Callaghan of the host club picking up one win against four losses.

Six teams began play on Friday in this event, now in its third year.

PEI’s Suzanne Birt rink was eliminated from further play in Saturday night’s 8 pm draw at the 2008 John Shea Insurance Women’s Canada Cup Qualifier being played in Ottawa. They lost a close 7-6 decision to Renée Sonnenberg of Alberta, and did not advance to the money round. Qualified  for the championship round so far are Shannon Kleibrink, Jennifer Jones, and Haligonian Mary-Anne Arsenault.

Birt won her opener on Thursday 8-7 in an extra end to Crissy Cadorin, but fell 9-5 to world champ Jennifer Jones in her second game. She then beat Alison Ross 8-5, but lost to Cindy Street of Saskatchewan 9-5 to drop to the winner-out game against Sonnenberg.

The four semi-finalists from this event will advance directly to the Canada Cup of Curling (March 18-22, 2009 in Yorkton, SK) joining the winner of the 2008 Tournament of Hearts – Jennifer Jones, the defending Canada Cup champion – Stefanie Lawton and the 2008 Player’s Champion – Amber Holland.