George Koke, from the Montague Curling Club will be taking over from Shirley Lank as President of the PEI Curling Association, following its Annual General Meeting tonight at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside. The other new Executive members are:  Angela Hodgson from the Cornwall Curling Club, who will assume the 1st Vice President role,  Junior curler Connor MacPhee,  from the Charlottetown Curling Club, who will be the new 2nd Vice President, and Shelley Gray from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, who will be Secretary. Susan McInnis is returning as Treasurer, while Lank will move to Past President. Departing Board members are Audrey Callaghan, Roddie MacLean, and Derek MacEwen.

Four motions were voted on at tonight’s meeting. The following were approved:

1. That the PEI Masters Curling Championship entry fee be raised from $40 to $50 per player.

2. That the PEICA hire a drawmaster for all events not covered by the Players Committee.

3.  That the PEI Curling Association per-member fee be raised from $10 to $15.

A motion to replace the 15 and Under and 12 and Under provincial championships with a 14 and Under championship and a 12 & Under provincial fun day was defeated.

The Asham World Curling Tour (WCT) announced its 2011-2012 men’s and women’s schedule today, along with venues for all Grand Slam events, except for last two, the BDO Canadian Open, January 25-29, and the season finale, the GP Car and Home Players’ Championship, from April 10-15. This WCT wrapup event, won by Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones in the 2010-11 season, will feature separate men’s and women’s draws consisting of the world’s top 16 ranked teams from the 2011-12 season, competing for a $100,000 total purse, along with Canadian Team Ranking System points, needed to secure a berth in the 2013 Olympic Trials.

At least one team believes that the Players’ Championship will be in Summerside. The Brad Gushue rink, which now includes Summerside-area native Adam Casey at lead, has listed Summerside as the venue for the event, on  the Team Gushue Facebook page. CBC also mentioned Summerside as a 2011-12 Grand Slam venue during its coverage of the 2011 Players Championship. Team Gushue lists Dawson Creek, BC as the site for the BDO Canadian Open.

No formal announcement of the venue for the Players’ Championship has yet been made. J.P. Desrosiers, event development officer for the City of Summerside’s Community Services and Recreation Department, confirmed in February that the city was looking into submitting a bid for a Grand Slam event. In April he said that a site visit by the event organizing group was planned in early May, and that he hoped to have an announcement shortly after the visit.

Here are the events that Team Gushue is planning to attend next season:
(source: Team Gushue Facebook page)

Shorty Jenkins Classic – Brockville, Ontario – September 15 – 18

Swiss Cup Basel  -Basel, Switzerland – September 29 – October 2

Mac Ice Classic- Ottawa, Ontario – October 6 – 9

Casino Lac Leamy Challenge – Gatineau, Quebec – October 21 – 24

World Cup of Curling- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – November 2 – 6

SunLife Invitational- Brantford, Ontario – November 17 – 20

Casino Challenge de Charlevoix- Charlevoix, Quebec – November 24 – 27

Brantford Nissan Classic- Brantford, Ontario – December 1 – 4

Swiss Chalet National- Kitchener, Ontario – December 14 – 18

Perth Masters – Perth, Scotland – January 5 – 8

Casino Rama Skins Game (Not confirmed) Rama, Ontario – January 21 – 22

Canadian Open – Dawson Creek, BC – January 25 – 29

Provincial Championships – St. John’s, NL – February 7 – 12

Tim Horton’s Brier – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – March 3 – 11

Victoria Curling Classic – Victoria, British Columbia – March 22 – 25

Grey Power Player’s Championship – Summerside, PEI – April 10 – 15

The PEI Curling Association’s Annual General Meeting and ADL/Sport PEI Sport Achievement Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2011, beginning at 5:30 pm at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside. Dinner will be provided. Attendees are asked to RSVP to Amy Duncan by May 16 at  902-368-4208 or [email protected].

The annual  awards ceremony honours the achievements of PEI curlers, coaches, officials, and volunteers during the past season, in eight categories. The nominees have now been narrowed down to three finalists in each category.  There will also be a President’s Award given out this year.

Here are this year’s finalists, chosen from 53 nominations.

Junior Female ~ Sarah Fullerton, Emily Gray, Michelle McQuaid

Junior Male ~ Christopher Gallant, Connor MacPhee, Marshall Smallman

Senior Female ~ Marie Ford,  Rebecca Jean MacDonald, June Moyaert

Senior Male ~ Robert Campbell, Bill Hope, Alex MacFadyen

Coach ~ Peter Pidgeon, Dick St. John, Dario Zannier/Phyllis Stretch

Official ~ Kay Atkinson, Cliff Poirier, Jim Farquharson

Volunteer ~ All Scotties Volunteers, Kim Dolan, Shirley Lank

Team ~ Robert Campbell (Mixed),  Sarah Fullerton (Junior/University), Amanda MacLean (Canada Games Women’s)

Brief biographies:

Junior Female

Emily Gray, from the Maple Leaf club in O’Leary,  is one of only four curlers across Canada chosen to represent Canada at the World Youth Olympics in Austria next January. She was also on thie year’s Canada Games team, playing second stone.

Cornwall’s Michelle McQuaid played third on this year’s PEI Junior Women’s team. She is a former winner of the Joan Mead Legacy award and scholarship,  presented annually at the national Juniors to a curler who best exemplifies leadership, excellence and fair play.  She also played third on this year’s UPEI, who finished second at the Atlantic University Curling Championships in Wolfville NS.

 Sarah Fullerton skipped her Cornwall Curling Club team to its third consecutive PEI junior women’s championship,  finishing with a 7-5 win-loss record at the nationals. She also skipped the UPEI team to a second place finish at the Atlantic University Curling Championships in Wolfville NS.

Junior Male

Marshall  Smallman of O’Leary was very busy in the past season, skipping a team to a 2-1 finish at the PEI Junior Mixed, winning the 15 and Under championship, as third for skip Tyler Smith, and playing third for the Matthew MacLean rink, the 2010 17 and Under champs, who won the “C” division final at this year’s event, but did not repeat as champions.

The Charlottetown Curling Club’s Christopher Gallant, the newest competitor from the Gallant curling family, threw fourth stones for the Alex Matters rink, winners of the Atlantic Under 18, and PEI 17 and Under curling championships, and skipped the PEI Junior Mixed championship team.

Connor MacPhee, who played lead for the Spencer Pitre rink, who curled out of the Charlottetown Curling Club, was the winner of a Fairplay award at the Canadian Juniors this year. The Pitre team went undefeated at the PEI juniors to advance to the nationals, where they finished play with a 4-8 win-loss record.

Senior Female

Marie Ford from the Crapaud Community Curling Club is a long-time organizer at her club, and skipped her team to a runner-up finish at the provincial The Dominion Curling Club Championship in March.

Rebecca Jean MacDonald from the Charlottetown Curling Club had an extremely busy 2010 and 2011, getting married in October, and  playing  third on the PEI Mixed curling team, skipped by Robert Campbell, that won the Canadian Championship in Morris Manitoba in November. In January, she competed in the PEI Scotties women’s championship, an event she has won six times as either skip or third. She played third for Kim Dolan this time, and did not win the event, but teamed up with Dolan off the ice as host commitee co-chairs of this year’s very successful Canadian Scotties, held in Charlottetown in February. In March, she again played third for Robert Campbell in the PEI Mixed championship, but they did not repeat as Island champs, losing out to former Canadian Junior champ Brett Gallant by a single point  in the final  In April, she and Campbell represented Canada at the World Mixed Doubles championship in St. Paul Minnesota, finishing with an overall record of 5-4 after making it to the tiebreaker round in their first-ever experience playing the mixed doubles format.

June Moyaert from Montague, a 1988 PEI women’s champ,  skipped her team to the PEI women’s championship this year with a big 12-4 win in the sudden death final to defeat the two-time defending champion Shirley Berry team.

Senior Male

Robert Campbell of Charlottetown skipped his team to his second Canadian Mixed curling championship (his first was in 1989), in November. With a 79% round robin shooting average,  Campbell, was named all-star skip for the event, and is only the seventh skip to win the Mixed twice.  In February, he competed in the PEI Tankard, which he won eight times previously, but didn’t make the winners circle this time. Teaming up with Rebecca Jean MacDonald, he represented Canada at the World Mixed Doubles championship in St. Paul Minnesota in April, finishing with an overall record of 5-4 and making it to the tiebreaker round. Campbell and his team also competed in this year’s provincial mixed championship, but lost out to the Brett Gallant foursome by a 5-4 score in the final.

 Bill Hope and his rink from the Charlottetown and Cornwall curling clubs went undefeated to sweep the PEI Senior Men’s championship in February, and went on to compete in the Canadian Seniors in Digby NS in March, finishing with a 4-7 record. Hope also finished as runner-up in this year’s PEI Masters, for curlers age 60 and over, losing 5-4 to Summerside’s Mel Bernard rink in the final. Hope also skipped his team in the Labatt Tankard, and coached the Shirley Berry rink, with his wife Sandy at third, who competed in both the Scotties and the Senior Women’s.

This season Alex MacFadyen made the jump from Juniors, where he is a four time PEI champion, as lead for Brett Gallant, to become a PEI Labatt Tankard Men’s champion, playing lead for the Eddie MacKenzie team, from the Charlottetown Curling Club, and beating out the very experienced John Likely foursome in the final. Unfortunately, their record the Tim Horton’s Brier was less than stellar, losing 10 of their eleven games.

Coach

Peter Pidgeon coached the Spencer Pitre junior team from the Charlottetown Curling Club, who went undefeated throughout the event to win this year’s PEI junior men’s championship.  Pidgeon won the junior men’s division Asham Coaching Award, voted on by all the coaches. At the nationals, Pidgeon was one of three PEI recipients of Fairplay awards, the only province with three awards.

Dick St. John from the Cornwall Curling Club is a long-time Special Olympics curling coach. The PEI curling teams competed in the New Brunswick winter games in February.

Dario Zannier and Phyllis Stretch are junior curling instructor/coaches at the Crapaud Community Curling Club.

Official

Charlottetown’s Kay Atkinson is head official for the PEI Curling Association, and also served as Chief Umpire for the Scotties Tournament of  Hearts Canadian Women’s Curling Championship, held in Charlottetown in February. It is very rare for a local person to be selected to supervise all officials at an event like this, especially in a small market such as PEI. She was involved in this past season’s national The Dominion Curling Club Championship in Charlottetown and Cornwall, and has officiated at many events in the past, including the senior nationals, two Briers, several  national juniors and the Olympic trials in Halifax.

Jim Farquharson, from Cornwall, has officiated at many PEI curling events, and helped out at the national The Dominion and Scotties championships this year as well.

Summerside’s Cliff Poirier is a senior PEICA official, and acted as a timing supervisor at the Brier in Halifax and was an officials commitee chair and on-ice official at The Dominion Canadian Curling Club Championship. He was also an official at the Canadian Seniors in Digby NS. He was also instrumental in implementing an improved timing system for provincial championships, and assisted the Canadian Curling Association with changes to the sport’s rulebook. He is a former Citizen of the Year for the City of Summerside, volunteering at many events and in many capacities.

Volunteer

All Scotties Volunteers: Over 570 volunteers made this year’s national Scotties Tournament of Hearts Provincial Women’s Curling Championship in Charlottetown one of the best ever, with curlers, fans, and the media all praising the great work done by them.

Kim Dolan of Charlottetown chaired this year’s national Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She was also named chair in 1999, but had to turn things over to another volunteer, as she ended up winning the PEI championship and playing in the event, along with Rebecca Jean MacPhee (now MacDonald), who is her co-chair this time. By all reports, the 2011 Scotties was a huge success, attracting record television audiences, and packing the house for many draws, and the HeartStop Lounge as well. Dolan also has eight PEI women’s championsbips to her credit, along with being the first woman to skip a team to a PEI mixed curling title.

 Shirley Lank, the President of the PEI Curling Association for the past two years, had a very busy year, also volunteering as co-chair for The Dominion national curling championship, and officiating and volunteering in many capacities at most PEI championships. She also competed in the PEI Stick curling championship, finishing second, and represented PEI at the regional stick championship.

Team

Charlottetown’s Robert Campbell Mixed team, which included Rebecca Jean MacDonald at third, second stone Robbie Doherty, and lead Jackie Reid skipped their PEI championship rink to a Canadian championship in Morris Manitoba in November. This was Campbell’s second Canadian Mixed title, but the first for his teammates. Campbell and MacDonald also represented Canada at the World Mixed Doubles  championship in St. Paul Minnesota in April, finishing with an overall record of 5-4 and making it to the tiebreaker round. The rink also competed in this year’s provincial championship, but lost out to the Brett Gallant foursome by a 5-4 score in the final.

The Sarah Fullerton rink from Cornwall, which includes third Michelle McQuaid, second Sara MacRae, and lead Whitney Young, with coach Angela Hodgson, won their second consecutive PEI Junior Women’s title this season. At the nationals in Calgary, they finished in fifth place, with a 7-5 win-loss record. Second Sara MacRae was the winner of a Fairplay award at the event. The Fullerton rink, with Christina Hennessey replacing MacRae, represented UPEI at the Atlantic University Curling Championship, finishing second to Saint Mary’s.

This year’s Canada Games Women’s team, out of the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, was skipped by Amanda MacLean, with  third Kassinda Bulger, second stone Emily Gray, and lead Aleya Quilty, along with coaches Glen MacLean and Shelley Gray.  At the Games in Halifax, the PEI team finished in seventh place with an  even 3-3 record, losing their first three extremely close games in extra ends, and picking up speed as the event progressed to win their final three. Second Emily Gray was also named as one of the four Team Canada representatives to compete in the World Youth Olympics in Austria next January.  Play during the Canada Games was one of the primary factors used to determine the team members. The MacLean rink also won the provincial 17 and Under women’s championships this season, and finished in fourth place at the Atlantic Under 18 competition. They also competed in this year’s provincial Junior (age 20 and under) women’s championships.

The PEI Curling Association’s Annual General Meeting and ADL/Sport PEI Sport Achievement Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2011, beginning at 5:30pm at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club. Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP to Amy Duncan by May 12.

Please submit your award nominations to Amy Duncan by May 8 at midnight. Nomination forms can be found at www.peicurling.com under documents. Categories include: Junior Female Athlete, Junior Male Athlete, Senior (Adult) Female Athlete, Senior (Adult) Male Athlete, Coach, Official, Team, & Volunteer of the Year. Please take the time to prepare a nomination and highlight some of the work being done by many great people within our sport.  Only those nominated can win!

Click to download nomination form (PDF)

Nominations received to-date:

Jr. Female – 3

Jr. Male – 2

Sr. Female – 1

Sr. Male – 1

Coach – 2

Volunteer – 0

Team – 3

Contact Information:

Amy Duncan

P.O. Box 302

Charlottetown PE C1A 7K7

902-368-4208

[email protected]