Two teams, skipped by Peter Gallant and Eddie MacKenzie, both from the Charlottetown Curling Club, remain undefeated after day two play at the Labatt Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championship at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, and have earned berths in the A section final of this triple-knockout event, set for 2 pm Saturday. The winning team from the A final will also play in the two game championship round on Tuesday.
Number two seed Gallant, backed up by his son, former Canadian Junior champion Brett, throwing skip’s rocks, downed defending champion and number three seed Rod MacDonald 10-2 on Friday evening to advance to the A final, following up a fourth end deuce with a steal of three in the fifth, and another steal, this time for four points, in the sixth end, to bring the game to a rapid conclusion.
MacKenzie, seeded fourth in the competition, upset top seed and reigning Canadian Mixed champion Robert Campbell 9-6, aided by a four point fourth end in his A division semi-final this evening.
Other members of the Gallant rink are Anson Carmody and Jeff Wilson, while Mike Gaudet, Mike Dillon, and Alex MacFadyen complete the MacKenzie foursome.
Other teams sitting at one loss after Friday play, besides MacDonald and Campbell, are Summerside’s Mel Bernard, and Charlottetown’s John Likely, Bill Hope, and Kevin Champion rinks.
Facing elimination with their next loss are Grant Somers, Tom Fetterly and Barry Cameron from Summerside, and Charlottetown rinks skipped by John Desrosiers, Rob Warren, David Ross, and Calvin Smith.
Saturday and Sunday draws are at 9 am, and 2 and 7 pm, with the B final going on Sunday, and the C final on Monday. The two game championship round goes Tuesday, unless a team wins all three sections, and, according to the rules, is automatically declared the champion.
Complete draw and end by end results are available throughout the event at peicurling.com/tankard.
Fifteen teams are taking part in the Labatt Tankard, with the winning rink advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 5-13 in London Ontario.