The Provincial Masters Curling Championships, for curlers 60 years of ago and older, are down to the final few draws at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. Round robin play concluded Tuesday morning in the four team women’s division, with Diane MacKay of Cornwall and five- time defending champion Jeanne Duffenais from the Silver Fox finishing with two wins and one loss, while Myrna Sanderson of Cornwall and Wanda Collings of Alberton finished at 1 and 2. MacKay finished first, after round robin results against each other were compared, and advanced directly to the 1 pm Wednesday final, with Duffenais playing in the semi. The battle for third place had to go to a tiebreaker game, as PEICA rules dictate that tied teams cannot be eliminated from a playoff round without a tiebreaker. Collings doubled Sanderson 6-3 in the tiebreaker, to grab the remaining spot in the semi, which will be played at 9 am on Wednesday, with the winner going to the 1 pm final.March 1-5, at the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax.
In Tuesday round robin play, Sanderson beat Collings 7-2, while MacKay beat Duffenais 7-3.
Meanwhile, four teams remain undefeated in the nine team double-knockout men’s section. John Holmes of the Silver Fox scored three points in the final end to edge defending champion Bob MacWilliams of Cornwall by a 9-8 score in the A final. Wednesday morning at 9, Holmes faces his clubmate and former champion Lou Nowlan, while MacWilliams takes on Bob Maynard of the Fox. The winners will square off in the B final at 1 pm Wednesday. If Holmes is in that game and wins it, he will become the PEI Masters men’s champ. If not, the sudden-death final between A winner Holmes and the B winner wil go Thursday at 1 pm.
In other Tuesday action, the Leslie Hardy foursome from the Western Community club in Alberton eliminated Alfred (Chick) Morrison and his combined Charlottetown/Cornwall team with a 5-1 score, but lost 10-1 to Nowlan in his next game. Maynard beat clubmate Louis Walsh 8-3, and Cornwall’s Sterling Stratton 7-3.
The winners and runners-up of both the women’s and men’s divisions will earn the right to play in the Maritime Masters,