The 2012 Ferguson Funeral Homes Provincial Stick Championships get underway on Tuesday morning and wrap up Thursday afternoon at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside. Twelve men’s and four women’s rinks from six PEI curling clubs are signed up, and will be attempting to unseat the three-time defending men’s champions, the Walter Callaghan and John Vincent duo from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, and the two-time defending women’s champs, the Ruth Stavert/Gloria Clarke twosome from the Cornwall Curling Club.
The top four men’s teams and the top two women’s teams from this competition earn the right to compete in the Maritime Stick Curling Championships, March 13-15 at the Amherst Curling Club in Nova Scotia. The top two men’s teams may also compete at the 2012 Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship, April 3-5 at the Highland Curling Club in Regina SK.
In stick curling there are two curlers per team, who deliver their rocks with delivery sticks, with each team member delivering from opposite ends. Sweeping is allowed only from the hog line to the back of the house at the playing end. Two curlers, one from each team, alternately deliver 6 stones each per end, while their teammate skips that end. The roles are then reversed, and the partners deliver the stones back. No stone may be removed from play until the fourth stone of each end. Games are six ends and take about an hour to play. For more information on stick curling, including complete rules of play, visit www.stickcurling.ca.
The men’s teams will play a single round robin in two pools, with the second and third place teams from each pool playing in the quarter-final round, Wednesday at 4pm. The quarter-final winners will then take on the first place teams in the semi-finals Thursday at 10 am, with the semi-final winners advancing to the championship game, Thursday at noon, and the semi-final losers playing in the consolation game at the same time.
The women’s rinks will play a double round robin with the top team winning the event. A final game, Thursday at noon, will be played only in the event that two teams are tied for first.
Here are the teams entered (skip, third, club)
Sherrill Barwise, Orville Willis, Maple Leaf Curling Club
Walter Callaghan, John Vincent, Community Curling Club
Charles Campbell, Barry Craswell, Cornwall Curling Club
Bob Acorn, William Nicholson, Charlottetown/Cornwall
Roger Gavin, Rev. Art Pendergast, Western Community Curling Club
Bazil Higginbotham, Sterling Higginbotham, Montague Curling Club
Peter Larter, Eddy Bernard, Western Community Curling Club
Bob Leard, Carter Vaniderstine, Montague Curling Club
Fidèle Richard, Harold Brister, Cornwall Curling Club
Floyd Stewart, Gordon MacDonald, Montague Curling Club
Sterling Stratton, Ernie Stavert, Cornwall Curling Club
Ensor Waite, Clifford Arsenault, Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club
Here are the opening draws for Tuesday , February 21:
10 am
Ice 1: Campbell vs Leard
Ice 2: Higginbotham vs Richard
Ice 3: Stratton vs Barwise
Ice 4: Gavin vs Acorn
Ice 5: Waite vs Stewart
Ice 6: Callaghan vs Larter
11:30 am
Ice 1: Callaghan vs Lank
Ice 2: Fisher vs Stavert
Ice 3: Campbell vs Higginbotham
Ice 4: Leard vs Stratton.
Ice 5: Barwise vs Richard
Complete draw is available at https://peicurling.com/stck
Results will be available at LiveCurling.com
