The rink skipped by eight-time PEI Scotties champion Kim Dolan edged out the Sarah Fullerton foursome by a 10-9 come-from-behind extra-end score this afternoon to advance to the Monday evening final of the PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Charlottetown Curling Club, where they will take on the Meaghan Hughes rink for the PEI women’s title and a trip to the Canadian Scotties, February 18-26 in Red Deer Alberta.
Fullerton, who scored five points in the fourth end, was ahead 6-1 after four ends, and 8-4 after 6, but Dolan took singles in seven and eight, and stole a triple in nine to lead 9-8 after nine ends. Fullerton tied it in the 10th, giving last rock advantage in the extra end to Dolan. The PEI junior champ ran into difficulties in the extra, after crashing on a guard. Other members of the veteran Dolan rink are Rebecca Jean MacDonald, a six-time PEI Scotties champ and Canadian Mixed winner, along with Sinead Dolan (Kim’s daughter), lead Nancy Cameron, alternate Michala Robison, and coach Peter MacDonald.
Rounding out the Fullerton rink, who recently won their third consecutive PEI Junior Championship, and are competing in the Canadian Juniors February 4-12 in Napanee Ont. are Michelle McQuaid, Sara MacRae, and Hillary Thompson, with coach Angela Hodgson.
Meaghan Hughes, who won the last of her four consecutive PEI Junior titles in 2006, advanced to the final by finishing first in the round robin, which wrapped up this morning. Hughes and Fullerton both had 4-1 records in the round robin, but Hughes was awarded first place because she beat Fullerton in their round robin encounter. Dolan was in third place at 3-2. Playing with Hughes are Stefanie Clark, who played 3rd for Suzanne Birt when she won the World Junior championship in 2001, Jackie Reid, a member of Rebecca Jean MacDonald’s Canadian Mixed team, and Tricia Affleck, a member of the Kathy O’Rourke rink, who were silver medallists in the 2010 national Scotties.
The Hughes and Dolan rinks are well-known to each other, as both Sinead Dolan and alternate Michala Robison were on Hughes’ junior team, and Kim Dolan was one of their coaches.
Defending champion Suzanne Birt, considered by many to be the favorite to win the event, finished out of the playoffs with a 2-3 record, losing her last three games to Dolan (6-5), Hughes (7-4) and Fullerton (9-6). The other two teams in the event, skipped by Donna Butler and Tammy Lowther, finished with 1-4 records.
Monday’s final starts at 6:30 pm at the Charlottetown Curling Club, with end-by-end results available at LiveCurling.com.
