The A and B finals of the triple knockout Sylvan Learning Provincial 17 and Under Curling Championships were played on Saturday at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. PEI’s Canada Games women’s representatives, the Amanda MacLean team from the host club, captured both sections, beating the Veronica Smith rink from Cornwall 6-3 in the A final, and 6-2 in the B. MacLean beat Megan Davies of Charlottetown 7-3 in the B semi-final, while Smith came from behind by scoring a triple in the final end to edge Carolyn Rose of Montague 6-5 in the other B semi. Winning both the A and B gives MacLean and her team of Kassinda Bulger, Emily Gray and Aleya Quilty, with coaches Glen MacLean and Shelley Gray a big advantage in the tournament, as it puts the team in both championship games on Monday, and a win in either game will give them the title, while their opponent, the C division winner, would have to win both. If MacLean also wins the C, the final round would not be needed.
MacLean will now play the winner of a 9 am Sunday game between Montague’s Rose, and Jenny McLean of the Silver Fox, in one of the two B semi-finasl, Sunday at 1 pm, with the winner of that game playing the winner the other B semi between Smith and Davies in the C final at 5 on Sunday. The championship round games, if necessary, go Monday at 9 am and 1 pm.
There are separate A and B division winners in the men’s section, with the Alex Matters team from Charlottetown stealing ends 5 through 7 in a 6-1 win over the Jeffrey Taylor rink from Cornwall in the A final, and the Taylor team stealing a single in end four and a double in five on the way to a 7-3 win over Matters in the B final.
Taylor downed Daniel McCarthy and his Western Community and Charlottetown combined team 8-1 in the B semi-final, while Matters blanked Tyler Smith and his Canada Games team, minus their third, Shawn Pitre, who was in Calgary watching his brother play in the Canadian Juniors, by an 11-0 score, taking a deuce in end one, stealing five in the second, and deuces in ends three and four to end the game early.
McCarthy and Matters face off on Sunday morning at 9 in one C semi-final, while Matthew MacLean of the Maple Leaf club takes on Taylor in the other. The C final goes at 5 pm, with the two game championship round between the section winners scheduled for Monday at 9 am and 1 pm.
Officials will be monitoring the weather Saturday night and Sunday morning. Any delays due to the predicted storm will be announced on the radio and posted on PEICurling.com.
The event winners advance to the Sylvan Learning Atlantic 17 and Under Championships, April 15-17 at the Charlottetown Curling Club.