Things were looking good in the latter ends of this afternoon’s PEI Tankard semi-final for Rod MacDonald and his rink, who have a combined total of 26 Tankards to their credit. The game had been tied up 3-3 at the half against their Charlottetown clubmates the Brett Gallant foursome, when MacDonald stole a single in end six to take the lead, followed by a deuce in the eighth end to pull ahead 6-3. However, the Brett Gallant team scored a deuce in the ninth, and stole another two in the 10th end to win the game 7-6 and advance to the final, tonight at 6:30 at the Cornwall Curling Club, against the Mike Gaudet squad, also from the Charlottetown Curling Club.

Gallant, a former Canadian Junior champion and World Junior silver medallist, was playing with third Eddie MacKenzie, who skipped last year’s Tankard-winning team, along with Gallant’s long-time teammates Anson Carmody and Alex MacFadyen. Other members of the MacDonald rink were third Kevin Champion, second Mark O’Rourke, and lead Andrew Robinson. Gaudet played third on MacKenzie’s winning team last year, and has a total three Tankards to his credit. His rink includes third Tyler MacKenzie, second Tyler Harris, and lead Sean Clarey.

The winner of this evening’s game will advance to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 3-11 in Saskatoon.