Jan. 16, 2012-The Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial women’s curling championship, originally set as a triple knockout event starting on Thursday, has now been changed to a round robin format, beginning Friday morning January 20, with the final on Monday evening the 23rd. The majority of the six teams entered contacted the PEI Curling Association late on Saturday requesting the change, and the PEICA, the host Charlottetown Curling Club, and sponsor Kruger Products have agreed to it, as they believe it to be a better format for curling fans, who will know who their favorite teams are playing, and the time for the final (under a triple knockout draw, depending on how many sections a team wins, any of three games could turn out to be the final).
Round robin times are Friday at 11 am and 4 pm, with the opening ceremonies going at 10 am, Saturday at 1:30 and 6:30 pm, and Sunday at 10 am. If tiebreakers are needed, they will go Sunday at 3, and, if necessary, 8 pm. The second and third place teams out of the round robin will square off in the semi-final, whiich will go Sunday at 3, if no tiebreakers, or Monday at 1:30 pm if one or two tiebreakers are played. The semi-final winner will then take on the first place team from the round robin in the championship game, set for 6:30 pm Monday.
Five of the six teams entered in the event curl out of the host Charlottetown Curling Club, and include the defending champion Suzanne Birt foursome, hot off a third place finish at the Bernese Ladies Cup in Switzerland this past weekend, along with a team skipped by eight time PEI Scotties winner Kim Dolan, with six time winner Rebecca Jean MacDonald at third. Other host club entries are the Donna Butler foursome, the Sarah Fullerton rink from Charlottetown and Cornwall, who recently won their third consecutive PEI Junior championship, and are in their last year of Junior eligibility, and a team skipped by Meaghan Hughes, a four-time Junior champ. The lone non-Charlottetown entry is the Tammy Dewar rink out of the Montague Curling Club.
Full draw and team rosters are available at peicurling.com/scotties, with end-by-end results at LiveCurling.com.
Event tickets, at $5 per draw or $25 for a full event pass, can be purchased at the Charlottetown Curling Club daily between noon and 10 pm, or by calling 892-7467.
The PEI Scotties champion will advance to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 18-26 in Red Deer Alberta.
Both the provincial and national Scotties Tournament of Hearts competitions are sponsored by Kruger Products and its family of brands, including Scotties® facial tissue, Cashmere® and Purex® bathroom tissue, SpongeTowels®, and White Swan® products.