The Provincial Masters Curling Championship, for curlers age 60 and over, begins Monday January 26 at 9 am at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, with the nine men’s teams playing a double-knockout format, and the four women’s rinks playing a round robin with a two-game championship. Jeanne Duffenais from Summerside will be looking for her sixth consecutive title in the women’s division, while Cornwall’s Bob MacWilliams rink are the defending men’s champions, after beating Lou Nowlan in last year’s final. Nowlan, who had won the previous five years, is recovering from a fall at his home Silver Fox club earlier this season, and will decide over the weekend if he is ready to compete. If not, Earle Proud will step in to skip the Nowlan rink. The women’s final is Wednesday at 1 pm, while the men’s title will be decided either at the same time, in the event that the winner of that B division final also won the A event earlier, or Thursday at 1 pm, if there are different winners. The winners and runners-up from both men’s and women’s divisions will advance to the Maritime Masters Championships, March 1-5, 2009 at the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax.
Live results from the PEI Masters will be available at peicurling.com/masters.
Here are the opening men’s draws:
Monday, January 26nd, 9 AM
Arthur Pendergast (Western) vs Lou Nowlan (Silver Fox)
Sterling Stratton (Cornwall) vs Leslie Hardy (Western)
Monday, January 26th, 11:30 am
Alfred Morrison (Ch`town/Cornwall) vs John Holmes (Silver Fox)
Bob Maynard (Silver Fox) vs Bob MacWilliams (Cornwall)
Monday, January 26th, 3 PM
Louis Walsh (Silver Fox) vs winner of 9am Pendergast/Nowlan game
Here is the women’s round robin draw:
Monday, January 26nd, 9 AM
Diane MacKay (Cornwall) vs Myrna Sanderson (Cornwall)
Wanda Collings (Western) vs Jeanne Duffenais (Silver Fox)
Monday, January 26th, 3 PM
Diane MacKay (Cornwall) vs Wanda Collings (Western)
Myrna Sanderson (Cornwall) vs Jeanne Duffenais (Silver Fox)
Tuesday, January 27th, 9 AM
Myrna Sanderson (Cornwall) vs Wanda Collings (Western)
Diane MacKay (Cornwall) vs Jeanne Duffenais (Silver Fox)
Tuesday, January 27th, 3 pm
Semi-final: 2nd place vs 3rd place finishers from round robin
Wednesday, January 28th, 1 pm
Women’s Final: Winner of Semifinal vs 1st place finisher from round robin
Team Rosters
Men (skip to lead, club)
Alfred Morrison, Tom Dunn, John Baird, Neil Smith Ch’town/Cornwall curling clubs
Sterling Stratton, Ron Giggey, Edgar Coffin, George Younker, Cornwall Curling Club
Lou Nowlan*, Doug Currie, Wayne Gardiner, Raymond Thomson, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)
Leslie Hardy, Walter Callaghan, Johnny Ellsworth, Eddie Bernard, Western Community Curling Club (Alberton)
Arthur Pendergast, Robert Gaudet, Eldon Hardy, Arthur Doucette, Western Community Curling Club (Alberton)
Bob MacWilliams, Roy Coffin, Vern Chowan, Geoff Scutt Cornwall Curling Club
Louis Walsh, Don Duffenais, Clayton Coulson, Charles Curry, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)
Bob Maynard, Harry Williams, Bruce Montgomery, Spike Martin, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)
John Holmes, Steve Bent, Des Arsenault, George Power, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)
*Earle Proude may replace Lou Nowlan for this event
Women (skip to lead, club)
Diane MacKay, Margie Jardine, Marilyn Diamond, Eileen Blanchard, Cornwall Curling Club
Myrna Sanderson, Shirley Lank, Jean Anderson, Patricia McCardle, Cornwall Curling Club
Wanda Collings, Frances Ellsworth, Shirley Murphy, Audrey Thompson, Western Community Curling Club (Alberton)
Jeanne Duffenais, Marg Nowlan, Georgie Coulson, Pat Barrett, Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)