The top four seeds, all from the Charlottetown Curling Club, remain undefeated after day two at the Labatt Tankard Provincial Men’s playdowns, which continue through Sunday at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton. In Friday play in this triple-knockout event, top seed Mike Gaudet beat provincial Seniors champ Mel Bernard of Summerside, seeded eighth, by a 10-6 score, while number three seed Rod MacDonald edged five-time Tankard and six-time Seniors champ Ted MacFadyen 7-6 in an extra end, stealing the 9th end in a closely-fought contest for a 6-5 lead coming home. MacFadyen was not able to pull off a deuce in the tenth, bring the game to an extra, where MacDonald scored the winning point. Gaudet and MacDonald now square off at 10:30 am Saturday, with the winner grabbing the first spot in the Final Eight round, set for Montague from February 10-15.
The other two undefeated teams, skipped by number four seed Kyle Stevenson and number two seed John Likely, will play Saturday afternoon at 2 for the number two spot. In action on Friday, Stevenson beat Clair Sweet of O’Leary’s Maple Leaf club by an 8-6 score, and scored a 10th end deuce to edge Charlottetown clubmate Jamie Newson 10-9. In his opening game, Likely beat Terry Arsenault 9-1 in only five ends and advanced directly to the number two qualifier game.
In the B section, where teams have one loss, qualifier game number three is set for 2 pm Saturday, between Jamie Newson of Charlottetown and Daryl MacDonald of the Maple Leaf. On Friday, unseeded MacDonald took five points in the ninth end in a 12-5 win over fifth seed Bill Hope of Charlottetown.Qualifier number five is also set to go at 2 pm Saturday, with newcomer Jeff Wilson facing veteran Ted MacFadyen. Wilson lost 10-3 to Charlottetown clubmate Jamie Newson on Friday, but rebounded in the evening draw with a 10-8 win over Clair Sweet.
Qualifier four goes Saturday evening at 7, with the loser of Qualifier two, between Stevenson and Likely, facing the winner of a 10:30 am game between Robert Shaw of Charlottetown and Summerside’s Mel Bernard.
Qualifier six is also Saturday at 7, with the winner of a 10:30 am game between Calvin Smith of the Charlottetown Curling Club and Terry Arsenault of the Silver Fox facing the loser of Qualifer One, between Gaudet and MacDonald.
Down in the “last chance” C section, qualifiers number seven and eight go Sunday at 8 pm. Fourteen teams began play on Friday, competing for the eight spots in the Final Eight, where the winning team will advance to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 7-15 in Calgary.