After Sunday play at the PEI Canada Games Curling Pre-Trials at Summerside’s Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, all but one of the qualifiers for the Trials, December 11-14 in Charlottetown, have been determined.
In the six team round robin Junior Men’s section, three teams finished with identical 3-2 win-loss records and grabbed the first three qualifying spots. These teams are the Tony Nabuurs rink from Montague, Cornwall’s Jeff Taylor foursome, and the Matthew MacLean team from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. In Sunday’s final round robin draw, Taylor and his team beat their Cornwall clubmates, skipped by 11 year old Tyler Smith, by a 6-2 score. MacLean defeated Alex Matters of Charlottetown 5-2, stealing a deuce in the final end.
Nabuurs was already qualified going into Sunday play, with a 3-1 record, and lost his Sunday contest 7-5 to the Shawn Pitre
team from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton. This resulted in three teams having identical 2-3 round robin
records, forcing two tiebreaker rounds, as PEI Curling Association rules dictate that no team may be eliminated solely on
win-loss records. The Matters and Pitre rinks squared off in the first tiebreaker on Sunday afternoon, with Matters
eliminating Pitre with an 8-3 win. Matters now plays Cornwall’s Smith in the second tiebreaker, Monday at 2 pm, with the
winner advancing to the Trials in Charlottetown.
All four qualifiers have been determined in the eight team triple-knockout junior women’s section. The Amanda MacLean rink
from O’Leary’s Maple Leaf Club went undefeated in the competition, grabbing the first qualifying spot for the Trials by
doubling the Jenny McLean foursome from the host Silver Fox club by a 6-3 score on Saturday. McLean went on to win the
second qualifier, 7-5 over Leah Deveau of Montague, on Sunday morning. Going into her final shot, McLean was
facing two Deveau counters, one of which was touching the button. She made a clutch draw to the button, aided greatly by
her sweepers, outcounting the opposing rock by a small margin to pick up the win.
The final two qualifiers were decided in the 2 pm draw on Sunday, with Cornwall’s Veronica Smith rink beating the Kim
Dunbar foursome from Charlottetown by a 7-2 score. The final qualifying spot went to Montague’s Deveau, who came back from her earlier loss to McLean with a decisive 9-3 victory over Emily Keen of Charlottetown.
The eventual winners of the Trials in Charlottetown next month will advance to the Canada Games, February 11-27, 2011 in Halifax, at the Mayflower Curling Club.
Here are the Qualifying Teams (skip to lead, coach-Club). Photos will follow later.
Junior Women’s:
#1 Amanda MacLean, Kassinda Bulger, Emily Gray, Aleya Quilty, coaches Glen MacLean/Shelley Gray-Maple Leaf Curling Club (O’Leary)
#2 Jenny McLean, Meaghan MacDonald, Rachael Gardiner, Lauren MacFadyen, coach Don Vickerson-Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club (Summerside)
#3 Veronica Smith, Katie Fullerton, Sabrina Smith, Chloe McCloskey, coaches Sarah Fullerton/Paul Smith-Cornwall Curling Club
#4 Leah Deveau, Sarah MacPhee, Jessica Chapman, Carolyn Rose, coach Carolyn MacPhee-Montague Curling Club
Junior Men’s:
#1 Tony Nabuurs, Kyle Hughes, Taylor McInnis, Chandler Matheson, coach Arny Nabuurs-Montague Curling Club
#2 Jeff Taylor, Alex Sutherland, Alex Jenkins, Jonathan Schut, coach AJ Campbell-Cornwall Curling Club
#3 Matthew MacLean, Marshall Smallman, Kevin Gallant, Alan MacLean, coach Glen MacLean Maple Leaf Curling Club (O’Leary)
#4 To be determined in a tiebreaker Monday at 2 pm between the following teams:
Tyler Smith, Parker O’Connor, Noah O’Connor, Tyson Smith, coach Kevin Smith-Cornwall Curling Club
Alex Matters, Chris Gallant, Andrew Cameron, Kyle Holland, coach Derrick Cameron-Charlottetown Curling Club