(by Jason Simmonds)
SUMMERSIDE — The streak will continue for Alex MacFadyen today.
When P.E.I. opens play at the Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ont., it will mark the seventh consecutive Canadian curling championship for MacFadyen, who plays lead for the Eddie MacKenzie rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club.
P.E.I. faces Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue at 3:30 p.m. (AT).
“We’re just going to do the best we can, and the goal will be to hopefully make a playoff run,” said MacKenzie, 38, after defeating John Likely to win the Labatt Tankard provincial men’s curling championship in Summerside on Feb. 8.
Other members of the Blair Weeks-coached MacKenzie rink are third stone Mike Gaudet and second stone Mike Dillon.
“We got together in the fall,” said Dillon, 46.
“We struggled a lot, there were a lot of ups and downs. We just couldn’t get everybody playing on the same page.
“We came up here (Summerside) in November and won the cashspiel, and that showed that, when we wanted to play as a team, we could compete. Then we struggled after that until the Tankard.”
MacKenzie and Gaudet, who are products of the junior program at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside, have played together on and off for approximately 15 years. They teamed up to win the 1992 provincial junior men’s title.
“It feels great (to be heading back to the Brier),” said Gaudet, 38. “This is why we put all the effort in every year.”
Gaudet, who admitted the rink probably threw more rocks this season than any other, skipped P.E.I. in his two previous Brier appearances in 1994 and 2004. MacKenzie was Gaudet’s third stone in ‘94.
Dillon will be appearing in his fourth Canadian men’s championship. He was there in 2003 with Robert Campbell and made back-to-back appearances in 2005 and 2006 with the Rod MacDonald rink.
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Skip Eddie MacKenzie, right, and his Charlottetown Curling Club team receive their championship banner and silver tankards from David Mitchell of Labatt Breweries following their victory at the P.E.I. Tankard last month in Summerside at the Silver Fox Curling Club. From left, lead stone Alex MacFadyen, second stone Mike Dillon, Mitchell, mate Mike Gaudet and MacKenzie. The team is in London, Ont. to complete in the Tim Horton’s Brier for the next 10 days. Transcontinental Media photo by Jason Simmonds