The Charlie Wilkinson rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club doubled the Mel Bernard team from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club by a 10-5 score in the final to win the Credit Unions of PEI Provincial Senior Men’s Curling Championship, which wrapped up this evening at the Crapaud Community Curling Club. It will be Wilkinson’s second trip to the Senior nationals – he skipped the PEI team back in 2004. This time his squad includes third Ken McGregor, second Phillip McInnis and lead Bill Doherty. This year’s Canadian Seniors take place March 17-25 in Abbotsford BC.
Wilkinson stole the first four ends to grab an early lead in tonight’s game, taking three singles and a deuce to lead 5-0 after four ends. Bernard, playing with Ted MacFadyen, Lou Nowlan, and Earle Proude, took a pair in five to narrow the lead to 5-2 at the half. The teams traded singles in six and seven, and Bernard took another deuce in the eighth to trail by just one point, with a score of 6-5. Wilkinson took a single in the ninth, and stole a triple in the 10th to seal the win.
Wilkinson won the A section of the triple knockout event, while Rod MacDonald, John Likely, George Koke and Doug MacGregor and their combined Charlottetown/Montague rink won the B. Bernard then took the C event with a 7-6 win over defending champion Bill Hope and his Charlottetown/Cornwall team.
The B and C winners then faced off in the semi-final this afternoon, with Bernard stealing four consecutive ends from MacDonald on his way to a 9-4 win and a pass to this evening’s championship game against A winner Wilkinson.
Nine men’s rinks with members from six of the seven Island curling clubs took part in this event, for curlers age 50 and over. The Senior Women’s championship, also sponsored by Credit Unions of PEI, starts on Friday morning at thee Western Community Curling Club, with eight teams taking part in a triple knockout draw. End-by-end results will be available at LiveCurling.com.