Four curlers originally from PEI were taking part in major cashspiels this week, with two of them qualifying for today’s championship round. Erin Carmody and Geri-Lynn Carmody are on the Crystal Webster rink out of Calgary, and went 4-0 in triple knockout play to qualify Friday night at the $26,000 32 team “The Shootout” cashspiel in Edmonton, while Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue team, which includes PEI natives Adam Casey and Brett Gallant, went 5-3 in round robin play at the the $40,700 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic in Brockville Ont., and did not qualify for the money round.
At “The Shootout”, the quarter-finals go at 11 am PEI time, with the semis at 2:30 pm, and the final at 6 pm Atlantic. In the quarters, the Webster rink are playing the Valerie Sweeting foursome out of Edmonton, who they previously beat 9-1 in round robin play. The other 4-0 team, skipped by Chelsea Carey, is playing Jennifer Jones in a battle of Winnipeg teams. Jones’ only loss in the event was last night, 7-3 to Carey. The other quarter-final matchups see Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton play Lethbridge’s Casey Scheidegger, and Andrea Holland of Regina, who won the Scotties in Charlottetown in 2011, and is playing with an entirely new team this year, play Jones’ former third Cathy Overton-Clapham of Winnipeg.
The winning team will go home with $5000, with $3000 for the runner-up, $2000 for 3rd and 4th place, and $1500 for the remaining qualifiers. 32 women’s teams were entered, while the round-robin men’s event featured 20 teams.
The 10 am AT quarter-finals at “The Shorty” see Kevin Koe play Toronto’s Mark Kean, Jeff Stoughton take on Minnesota’s Pete Fenson, Brad Jacobs play Jean-Michel Menard, and John Epping face Pierre Charette. The women’s semi-finals see Sherry Middaugh face Tracy Horgan, and Eve Muirhead take on Marie-France Larouche.