PEI ch’ship curling season wraps up this weekend with 3 events

The M&M Meat Shops Mixed,  The Dominion PEI Curling Club Championship, and the Junior Mixed will bring the PEI championship curling season to a close this coming weekend, with The Dominion getting underway Thursday afternoon, and the Mixed and Junior Mixed starting Friday. All three events are scheduled to wrap up on Sunday, but the Mixed could conclude on Saturday afternoon, if the same team wins both A and B sections of the double knockout event.

Two Canadian champs and national Mixed record holder among Mixed skips

This years’s  M&M Meat Shops Mixed, at the Charlottetown Curling Club, has only four entries, but may be the most competitive mixed field ever, with two-time Canadian Mixed champion Robert Campbell returning with last year’s Canadian championship team, which includes Rebecca Jean MacDonald, Robbie Doherty, and Jackie Reid, intact.

Also entered is John Likely, who  returns to this event after several year’s absence, and will be looking for his ELEVENTH PEI Mixed title.  He has held records for the most appearances as skip and the most games won at the Canadian Mixed. Likely’s team this year includes Sinead Dolan, Eric Brodersen and Michala Robison, all former PEI Junior champions.

The third Charlottetown Curling Club team entered is skipped by former Canadian Junior champion and World Junior silver medallist Brett Gallant, and includes his long-time teammate Anson Carmody at second. Erin Carmody and Geri-Lynn Ramsay, from last year’s Canadian Scotties silver medallist rink, are playing third and lead, respectively, in their last appearance in a PEI championship before they head to Calgary next season to join the Crystal Webster rink in their quest for a berth in the 2013 Olympic Trials in Winnipeg.

Rounding out the field is the Tammy Dewar foursome from the Montague Curling Club. Dewar and lead Gail Greene were on the 2005 PEI Mixed championship team, as  well as the 2010 PEI Scotties runner-up rink,  and are joined this time by Paul Morrison, who throws fourth rocks, and Matthew MacDonald at second stone.

The four teams will play a double knockout format, with Friday draws at 1 and 6 pm. Campbell plays Likely, with Gallant taking on Dewar in the opening draw. Saturday games are at 10 am and 3 pm, with the final Sunday at 10 am. In the event that the same team wins both the A and B section finals, the championship game would not be required.

The winning team will advance to the 2012 Canadian Mixed, which takes place November 12-19, 2011 at the Sudbury Curling Club in Sudbury, Ontario.

Complete draw and end-by-end results available at peicurling.com/mixed.

Team Rosters

Skip	Throws	Vice-skip/Mate/Third	Throws	Second	Throws	Lead	Throws	Club
Robert Campbell	4th	Rebecca Jean MacDonald	3rd	Robbie Doherty	2nd	Jackie Reid	1st	Charlottetown Curling Club
Tammy Dewar	3rd	Paul Morrison	4th	Matthew MacDonald	2nd	Gail Greene	1st	Montague Curling Club
Brett Gallant	4th	Erin Carmody	3rd	Anson Carmody	2nd	Geri-Lynn Ramsay	1st	Charlottetown Curling Club
John Likely	4th	Sinead Dolan	3rd	Eric Brodersen	2nd	Michala Robison	1st	Charlottetown Curling Club

The Dominion heads West

The Dominion Curling Club Championship, for club curlers who have won their respective club championships, is now in its third year, and is being held at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, with men’s teams entered from all seven PEI curling clubs, and women’s rinks from five. The winning rinks will advance to the 2011 national The Dominion, November 21-26 in Richmond BC. PEI’s Charlottetown and Cornwall clubs hosted the 2010 nationals. Donald Clarey and Larry Richards from Montague are back from last year’s provincial men’s team. Last year’s PEI women’s champions,  the Jeanne Duffenais rink from the Silver Fox did not make it back, with the Nola Murphy rink representing the Fox this time. Playing lead for the Murphy squad this year is Elspeth Carmody, mother of Anson and Erin, who last hit the curling spotlight as a provincial Junior champion on Nancy Cameron’s team back in 1980. Other women’s entrants include the Lorianne Davies rink from Cornwall, who were runners-up last year.

Team Rosters

Men

Teams will play a round robin format, beginning with a men’s draw Thursday at 5:30 pm, and the opening women’s draw following at 8 pm. Friday and Saturday men’s games are at 9:30 am and 2:30 and 8 pm, with women’s draws at noon and 5:30 pm. Tiebreakers, if needed go Sunday morning at 10, with the second and third place teams in the men’s and women’s divisions squaring off in the semi-finals at 1 pm, with the winner taking on the first place team in the 1 pm final.

Opening draws:
Thursday March 17 at 5:30 pm (men)
Ice 1: Clair Sweet (Maple Leaf) vs Barry Cameron (Silver Fox),
Ice 2: Donald Clarey (Montague) vs Alan Inman (Crapaud)
Ice 3: Charlie Wilkinson (Charlottetown), Blaine Hutt (Western)

Thursday March 17 at 8 pm (women)
Ice 1: Kimberly Ellsworth (Western) vs Nola Murphy (Silver Fox)
Ice 2: Val MacLean (Ch’town) vs Marie Ford (Crapaud)

Opening games for teams with byes in first round (both from Cornwall)
Friday March 17 at 9:30 am (men)

Ice 2: Charlie Wilkinson (Charlottetown) vs Brock Spence (Cornwall)

Friday March 17 at 12 noon (women)

Ice 1: Val MacLean (Charlottetown) vs Lorianne Davies (Cornwall)

Complete round robin draw and end by end results at https://peicurling.com/thedominion

Any profits generated from provincial or national Dominion Curling Club Championship events will be directed to charities including the Canadian Paraplegic Association, as well as developmental curling initiatives in communities across Canada.

Junior Mixed to be held at Cornwall

The Junior Mixed, for mixed teams (two men and two women)  is also in its third year, and will take place at the Cornwall Curling Club, with eight teams entered in the age 20 and under division. The 15 and Under division will not be held this year, due to insufficient entries.

The teams are divided into two pools, and will play a round robin, with a “modified Page” playoff where the top teams from each pool will square off in the Page 1 vs 1 game, and the second place rinks will play in the Page 2 vs 2 game. The winner of the 1 vs 1 will advance directly to the final, while the loser will play the winner of the 2 vs 2 in the semi-final, with that winner moving on to the championship game.

Team Rosters (skip to lead, coach(es), club(s)):

Pool A

Shawn Pitre, Katie Fullerton, Noah O’Connor, Chloe McCloskey, Cornwall

Matthew MacLean, Amanda MacLean, Jeffrey Taylor, Aleya Quilty, coach Glen MacLean, Cornwall/Maple Leaf

Tyler Smith, Kassinda Bulger, Eric Pidgeon, Emily Gray, coach Peter Pidgeon, Charlottetown/Silver Fox/Maple Leaf

Christopher Gallant, Emily Keen, Andrew Cameron, Emma Matheson, coaches Derrick Cameron and Peter Gallant, Charlottetown

Pool B

Carolyn Rose, Alex Sutherland, Leah Deveaux, Taylor McInnis, coach Bryan Sutherland, Cornwall/Montague.

Spencer Pitre, Sarah Fullerton, Connor MacPhee, Michelle McQuaid, coach Angela Hodgson, Charlottetown/Cornwall.

Marshall Smallman, Veronica Smith, Kevin Gallant, Sabrina Smith, coach Paul Smith, Cornwall and Maple Leaf

Cody Dixon, Heather Drake, Dylan Lowery, Danielle Collings, coach Valerie Collings, Montague

Friday round robin draws are at 3 and 7 pm, with the final round robin draw getting underway Saturday at 11 am.

Tiebreaker and/or Page rounds go at 3 and, if necessary, 7 pm on Saturday. In the event that two tiebreakers are needed, the Page 2-2 game would take place at 8 on Sunday morning. The semi-final goes Sunday at 11 am, with the final at 3 pm.

Here are the round robin draws:

Friday March 18, 2011 at 3 pm

Shawn Pitre vs Matthew MacLean, Tyler Smith vs Christopher Gallant, Carolyn Rose vs Spencer Pitre, Marshall Smallman vs Cody Dixon

Friday March 18, 2011 at 7 pm

Carolyn Rose vs Marshall Smallman, Spencer Pitre vs Cody Dixon, Shawn Pitre vs Tyler Smith, Matthew MacLean vs Christopher Gallant

Saturday March 19 2011 at 11 am:
Matthew MacLean vs Tyler Smith, Shawn Pitre vs Christopher Gallant, Spencer Pitre vs Marshall Smallman, Carolyn Rose vs Cody Dixon.

Complete draw and results available at peicurling.com/juniormixed.