Two of the six teams for the Final Six have been determined at the Labatt Tankard Open Playdowns at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside. This afternoon,  the Bill Hope rink beat their Charlottetown clubmates and last years runners-up, the John Likely team by an 8-5 score to grab the first qualifying spot. Hope’s rink includes Craig Mackie at third,  Five  time Tankard and six time Seniors champion skip Ted MacFadyen throwing second, but holding the broom when Hope throws, and Mike Coady at lead. Al Ledgerwood coaches the team. In today’s game the Hope foursome pulled ahead with a triple in the fifth end, and a stolen single in the sixth.

The second qualifier for the Final Six is Robert Campbell of Charlottetown, who will be looking for his ninth Tankard.  The Campbell rink beat  the Tom Fetterly team from the Silver Fox by a 9-5 score this afternoon. Fetterly, a three-time Canadian Mixed champion, lead 5-2 after six ends, but Campbell took a double in the seventh, stole another deuce in eight, and recorded a triple in the final end to earn the second slot in the Final Six. Playing with Campbell are Steve Burgess, Jamie Newson, and Rob Doherty.

Earlier on Saturday, the teams who have already suffered a loss in the triple-knockout event squared off, with defending champion Rod MacDonald and his Charlottetown rink beating Summerside’s Grant Somers team by a 9-3 score, John Desrosiers of Charlottetown beating Summerside’s Mel Bernard 9-7,  Tyler MacKenzie beating Charlottetown clubmate Dave Ross 10-3, after a steal of four in the second end, and a five point fourth end, and Eddie MacKenzie beating Charlottetown clubmate Robert Shaw, also by a 10-3 score.

Play resumes at 7 pm, with Desrosiers facing MacDonald, and the two MacKenzie teams playing off in B Division games. The winner of the Desrosiers/MacDonald contest will then play Fetterley in one of the two B qualifiers, Sunday at 1 pm, while the winner of MacKenzie vs MacKenzie will play Likely in the other.

Also at 7 tonight,  Mel Bernard will play Grant Somers in an all-Summerside match, with the loser eliminated from further play. Either Robert Shaw or Dave Ross will go home in the other C division “Survivor” match at 7.

The last two of the six Final Eight teams will be decided in the 6 pm draw on Sunday.

The Final Six begins on February 4th, at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, with the Tankard champion from that event advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 6-14 in Halifax.