Feb. 1-The remaining two teams for the Final Eight portion of the Labatt Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championships were decided on Sunday evening at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton. Bill Hope beat Charlottetown clubmate Kyle Stevenson 7-5 to qualify in the seventh position, while it took an extra end for Clair Sweet of the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary to edge newcomer Jeff Wilson of Charlottetown by an 8-7 score, stealing the last three ends to take the final spot in the Eights.
Hope, with teammates Dennis Watts, Jeff Gallant, and Phillip MacInnis, trailed Stevenson, who has made it to the Final Eights the last four years, 4-3 after seven ends, but scored a triple in the eighth to take the lead. They traded singles in the final two ends to give Hope the two-point win. Hope beat Charlottetown clubmate Robert Shaw 7-5 on Saturday night, while Stevenson trounced Calvin Smith of Charlottetown 12-4 Sunday afternoon to advance to the qualifier game.
Sweet trailed 6-2 at half-time in his qualifier game, after Jeff Wilson took four in the fifth. They traded singles for the next three ends, and Sweet stole a deuce in the ninth and a single in the tenth to tie the game. He stole another single in the extra end for the win. Other members of the Sweet team are Bob Matheson, Muncey Harris, and Wayne Arsenault.
Sweet beat Maple Leaf clubmate Daryl MacDonald 10-4, while Wilson defeated Summerside’s Terry Arsenault rink 3-1 on Sunday afternoon to get to the qualifer.
The other six teams in the Final Eight, Rod MacDonald, John Likely, Jamie Newson, Ted MacFadyen, and Mike Gaudet, all from the Charlottetown Curling Club, and Mel Bernard from the Silver Fox, qualified on Saturday.
The scene now shifts to the Montague Curling Club for the Final Eight championshop round, from February 10-15, with the winner advancing to the Tim Horton Brier, March 7-15 in Calgary.