The Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Rod MacDonald, Kevin Champion, Mark O’Rourke, and Andrew Robinson have earned a day off on Saturday, after beating their clubmates, the Robert Campbell team, by a 7-4 score Friday evening in the A section final at the Cornwall Curling Club to grab the first of four qualifying spots for the PEI Tankard provincial men’s curling championship. A steal of one in the second end and deuces in ends 5 and 7 gave MacDonald the edge in the game.
Four Charlottetown rinks, skipped by Bill Hope, Brett Gallant, Campbell, and Mike Gaudet, are in the running for the second qualifier, in the “B” section of the triple knockout draw, which will be decided in the 6:30 Saturday evening draw. Hope stole a triple in the final end against Donald Clarey and his PEI The Dominion Curling Club Championship rink from the Montague Curling Club, to break a 6-all tie and win 9-6 in this evening’s draw. Gallant, aided by a four point fourth end, beat Charlottetown clubmate Jamie Newson 6-4 this evening, while Gaudet stole a single in the third end en route to a 6-5 shading of clubmate John Likely.
Campbell will face Gaudet, while Hope will take on Gallant Saturday afternoon at 1:30, with the winners advancing to the 6:30 pm “B” qualifier.
The two remaining qualifying spots in the Page playoff round will be decided in the 1:30 pm Sunday draw. Saturday at 9 am, Peter MacDonald will take on Charlottetown clubmate Charlie Wilkinson, Rob Young of the host Cornwall club will take on Jamie Newson, and Blair Jay from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside will face Montague’s Clarey. Likely is also in contention, and has received a bye to the 6:30 pm Saturday draw, where he will play the loser of the afternoon contest between Hope and Gallant.
The four game championship round gets underway Sunday evening at 6:30, with the first two qualifiers facing off in the Page “1-2” game, and the other two qualifers playing in the “3-4” game. The winner of the “1-2” game will advance directly to the final, Monday at 6:30 pm, while the loser will face the winner of the “3-4” game in the semi-final Monday at 1:30 pm, with the winner of that game advancing to the final.
The PEI Tankard winner will advance to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 3-11 in Saskatoon.