PEI’s Suzanne Birt rink made it all the way to the quarter-finals of the $100,000 Sun Life Financial Invitational Curling Classic in Brantford Ontario. As the eighth and final team to qualify, they were playing their third game of the day, and were up against US Olympic contender and former world women’s champion Debbie McCormick, who qualified first. The PEI team, which includes third Shelly Bradley, second Leslie MacDougall, and lead Stefanie Richard, trailed 2-1 going into the final end of the game, where McCormick scored three points for a 5-1 victory. McCormick now plays Joanne Rizzo of Ontario in one women’s semi-final, while Shannon Kleibrink of Alberta will play Amber Holland of Saskatchewan in the other. The men’s semis will see Mike McEwen of Winnipeg take on Jean-Michel Minard of Quebec, and Wayne Middaugh of Ontario play Martin Ferland of Quebec in the other.
Semi-finals go at 10 am Atlantic on Monday, with the men’s at women’s finals following at 1:30 pm AT.