Two of the teams for the Final Six were determined on Saturday afternoon at the Labatt Tankard Open Playdowns at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside. 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.
In the 7 pm Saturday draw, defending champion Rod MacDonald beat Charlottetown clubmate John Desrosiers by an 8-6 score to advance to one of the two B section qualifiers, against Tom Fetterly of Summerside, while Eddie MacKenzie doubled Charlottetown clubmate Tyler MacKenzie 8-4, and will play last year’s runner up, John Likely, in the other B qualifier. These games go Sunday at 1 pm. Also in the 7 pm draw, two teams, skipped by Grant Somers of Summerside, and Dave Ross of Charlottetown were eliminated from further play, with Ross losing 10-7 to clubmate Robert Shaw, after Shaw took five points in the ninth end, and Somers losing 7-5 to Silver Fox clubmate Mel Bernard. Bernard plays Tyler MacKenzie, and Shaw faces Desrosiers Sunday at 1 pm, with the losers eliminated, and the winners advancing to 6 pm qualifer games for the last two spots in the Final Six.
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.