By Gerard Mclaughlin.
Hands down, this is as good, as top-notch, as it gets in Atlantic curling.
The fifth annual Molson Canadian Hub City Shootout, the richest event on the Atlantic Curling Tour, is billed for our city next week and it features the majority of the elite male and female rinks in all Atlantic Canada.
A total of 24 men’s teams and eight women’s entries will compete in the $24,000 event scheduled Dec. 8-11 (Thursday through Sunday) at Curl Moncton Beaver and Curling Beausejour.
Host organizer Scott Jones claims the Shootout is the best and largest event on the Atlantic tour schedule.
And, Jones is totally expecting tight games and terrific shot-making.
“The teams that come in on a roll this season would be teams like Rod MacDonald (P.E.I), who has played in the finals of the last two tour stops; Marc Lecocq (Moncton), who played in back to back finals in Charlottetown and Halifax, and Brett Gallant (P.E.I), who may be the busiest curler of them all over the past few weeks having competed at the Canadian mixed championship for 13 games and then right to Quebec where he won the WCT event held in Charlevoix, Que., last weekend having defeated 2006 Olympic Gold medallist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland.
Of particular note is the fact that Brett’s former teammate from his Canadian Junior Championship (Adam Casey), now plays with the Gushue foursome,” explained Jones.
The women’s field will be just as tough as the men’s.
Sylvie Robichaud of Curling Beausejour, who skipped New Brunswick to a bronze medal at the Canadian mixed two weeks back, defending N.B. Scotties champion Andrea Kelly of Fredericton, four-time national competitor Sandy Comeau of Moncton and Suzanne Birt of Charlottetown are the major headline teams.
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