The Ferguson Funeral Homes Provincial Stick Curling Championships got underway this morning at the Montague Curling Club, with the fifteen teams in the men’s/mixed division playing a round robin with two pools, and the three rinks in the women’s division playing a double round robin. A playoff round will follow the round robins, on Thursday afternoon.
At the conclusion of opening day play, the two defending champion teams, the Walter Callaghan/John Vincent rink from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton in the men’s/mixed division, and the Ruth Stavert/Gloria Clarke team from the Cornwall Curling Club in the women’s section, are undefeated, sporting 3-0 and 1-0 win/loss records, respectively. Also at 3-0 in the men’s and mixed section are the Bob Acorn/Willie Nicholson duo from Charlottetown, the Peter Larkin/Fr. Art Pendergast twosome from Alberton, and Bazil and Sterling Higginbotham from the host Montague Curling Club. At 2-0 are two-time PEI Stick champs Ernie Stavert and Sterling Stratton from Cornwall.
Wednesday draws are at 10 and 11:15 am, and 12:30, 2, 3:15 and 4:30 pm.
Round robin play wraps up Thursday morning with draws at 10 and 11:15 am. The men’s/mixed quarter-final round goes at 12:45 pm, with the semis in both divisions at 2:15, and the finals at 4:45.
Complete draw and results are available at peicurling.com/stick.
The top four men’s/mixed teams and the top two women’s teams earn the right to compete in the Maritime Stick Curling Championships, March 15-17 at the Beaver Curling Club in Moncton. The top two men’s/mixed teams may also compete at the 2011 Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship, March 23-25, 2011 at the Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge BC.
In stick curling there are two curlers per team, who deliver their rocks with delivery sticks, with each team member delivering from opposite ends. Sweeping is allowed only from the hog line to the back of the house at the playing end. Two curlers, one from each team, alternately deliver 6 stones each per end, while their teammate skips that end. The roles are then reversed, and the partners deliver the stones back. No stone may be removed from play until the fourth stone of each end. Games are six ends and take about an hour to play. For more information on stick curling, including complete rules of play, visit www.stickcurling.ca.