The draw is set for the PEI Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championship, which gets underway on Wednesday February 6, and concludes on Sunday, February 10 at the Crapaud Community Curling Club. The ten teams signed up will play a triple knockout format, qualifying four teams for the Page playoff round, where the first and second qualifiers will play in the Page 1-2 game, and the third and fourth place qualifiers will play in the Page 3-4. The winner of the 1-2 will advance directly to the championship final, while the loser will play the winner of the 3-4 game in the semi-final, with that winner facing the 1-2 winner in the final.

Four teams, including the defending champion Mike Gaudet rink, are seeded in the draw as a result of cashspiel winnings this season. The seeds are:

#1-Rod MacDonald
#2-Eddie MacKenzie
#3-Jamie Newson
#4-Mike Gaudet

The remaining six teams are skipped by Mel Bernard, Robert Campbell, Allan Inman, Ted MacFadyen, Robert Shaw, and Blair Weeks.

Draws go Wednesday through Friday at 1:30 and 6:30 pm, with the final 2 qualifiers being chosen Saturday morning at 11. The two Page games follow at 4. The semi is Sunday at 11 am, with the final at 4 pm. Admission fee to watch the PEI Tankard is just $2 per draw, or $15 for a full event pass. The winning team from this year’s Tankard will advance to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 2-10 in Edmonton.

Here are the opening draws:

Wednesday Feb. 6 at 1:30 pm

Ice 1 Game 1: Robert Shaw vs Blair Weeks

Ice 2 Game 2: Robert Campbell vs Mel Bernard

Ice 3 Game 3: Rod MacDonald vs Ted MacFadyen

Ice 4: Game 6  Allan Inman vs Eddie MacKenzie

Wednesday Feb. 6 at 6:30 pm

Ice 1 Game 11: Loser Game 2 vs Loser Game 6

Ice 2 Game 4: Mike Gaudet vs Winner of Game 1

Ice 3 Game 5: Jamie Newson vs Winner of Game 2

Ice 4: Game 10: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 3

Full team rosters, draw, and results available at peicurling.com/tankard

The Veronica and Tyler Smith rinks, both from the Cornwall Curling Club, are heading north and west, to Fort McMurray Alberta, for the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, Feb. 2-10 at the Suncor Community Leisure Centre at MacDonald Island Park in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Photo: Veronica and Tyler Smith

Follow the action here:

http://www.curling.ca/championships/juniors/

Veronica Smith rink: Front (L-R): Chloe McCloskey, Sabrina Smith, Katie Fullerton, Veronica Smith; Back (L-R): coaches Bill Hope, Paul Smith

Tyler Smith rink (L-R): Tyler Smith, Alex Sutherland, Alex Jenkins, Jonathan Schut, coach Allan Campbell

The Tyler Smith rink opens against the Yukon Saturday at 1 pm and plays Saskatchewan at 6:30 pm, while the Veronica Smith team’s opener is against Manitoba at 6:30 pm. All times MT – add 3 hours for Atlantic.

PEI Round robin schedule

Saturday Feb 2: 1 pm Men vs YT; 6:30 pm Women vs MB, Men vs SK
Sunday Feb 3: 1 pm Men vs NU; 6 pm Women vs QC
Monday Feb 4: 9 am Women vs NO;  2 pm Men vs On; 7 pm Men vs BC, Women vs NT
Tuesday  Feb. 5 1 pm Women vs NS, Men vs AB; 6 pm Women vs ON

Full draw schedule:

http://www.curling.ca/championships/juniors/scores-and-standings/draw-schedule/

There is a new draw format this year in order to accommodate the 14 men’s and 14 women’s teams, including newcomer Nunavut (NU), representing the Canadian Curling Association’s Member Associations (provincial/territorial).

For each gender, the teams have been seeded, based on the won-loss records of the provinces/territories at the Juniors for the past three years, and then placed into two Pools — A & B.

The teams will play a round robin within their Pool (six games), after which the top four in each advance to the Championship Pool beginning Wednesday for a four-game round robin against teams from the other Pool, with their won-loss records carried forward.

At the completion of the Championship Pool for each gender on Friday, Feb. 8, the teams with the best won-loss records advance to their respective finals, while the second- and third-place finishers meet in semifinals to determine the other finalists.

The team that didn’t qualify for the Championship Pool will contest a similar round robin in the Seeding Pool, beginning Wednesday as well, so that by Friday all teams will have played at least nine games and will be ranked by their won-loss records to determine provincial/territorial seeding for next year’s event in Liverpool, N.S. In addition, there will be a two-day Mixed Doubles competition on the final weekend involving curlers from the non-playoff teams.

Round-robin games will be played at both the CNRL Arena 2 (Sheets A-E) and the Oilsands Curling Club (Sheets F-K).

TSN, the official broadcaster of the CCA’s Season of Champions, will provide live coverage across Canada of the men’s and women’s finals from the CNRL Arena 2. The men’s final is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT Saturday, Feb. 9, while the women’s final goes Sunday, Feb. 10, at 5 p.m. MT as well.

The winners of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors will  represent Canada at the World Juniors, Feb. 28-March 10, 2013, in Sochi, Russia, which will serve as a test event for the 2014 Winter Olympics curling competition.

(with info from the CCA)

Ten of the 11 teams that will challenge Team Canada’s Heather Nedohin for her Canadian women’s curling crown have now been declared. There is a lot of experience coming to Kingston, Ont., for the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which promises to be a battle of giants.

Leading the charge is Jennifer Jones who captured the Manitoba title today and with it a ticket to her 10th Canadian Women’s Curling Championship. She is a four-time Canadian champion and the 2008 world champion.

Another well-know name is Mary-Anne Arsenault, who is skipping the Nova Scotia team with her former teammates, third Kim Kelly and Colleen Jones, playing second and vice skip. That trio teamed with Nancy Delahunt (who’ll be their fifth player) to win five Scotties (including a record four in succession) and two world championships. This will be Arsenault’s 11th trip to the Canadians, while Jones will be making a record 21st appearance at the Canadian championship.

Skipping B.C.’s entry for the fourth consecutive year and eighth time overall is Kelly Scott who has won the Canadian title twice and was 2007 world champion.

Ontario’s entry in the Scotties will be Rachel Homan from Ottawa, who is sure to be a fan favourite. Homan has had an impressive past, starting as a bantam when she won the provincials four times. She won the Canadian Juniors in 2010 and is making her second trip to the Scotties.

P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt is a two-time Canadian Junior Champion and former world champion, who is making her seventh appearance at the national championship.

Kerry Galusha will be representing the Northwest Territories/Yukon and is returning for her 11th appearance at the Canadian Championship.

Rounding out the field is Alberta’s Kristie Moore, Quebec’s Allison Ross, Saskatchewan’s Jill Shumay and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Devereaux. The New Brunswick Champion will be declared on February 3.

Prince Edward Island will be hosting three Stick Curling championships this season, with Provincial, Maritime, and Canadian Open championship titles on the line.

The dates of the Maritime championship in Montague have now been advanced a week, to March 12-14.

Stick Curling, where the curling rock is delivered using a delivery stick rather than the traditional “hack” delivery method, has been growing rapidly on PEI since curlers here first started using “the stick” over 15 years ago. The delivery stick allows curlers with knee problems or other mobility challenges to keep in the game, and has even brought those who never curled before into the sport.

Stick curlers often curl in regular leagues, and also have their own variant of the game, “2 Person Stick Curling” where there are two, instead of four, members per team, 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.

Most of the clubs on PEI now have regular “Stick Curling” leagues, and the provincial Stick Curling Championships are now in their seventh year. 2013 will be a big year for PEI stick curling, with the Maritime championship, which rotates among the three Maritime provinces, taking place here, and, for the first time, the Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship will also be hosted here.

The Western Community Curling Club in Alberton is the site of the 2013 Curl PEI/Ferguson Funeral Homes Provincial Stick Curling Championships, which take place February 19-22. Defending champions in the open division are the Floyd Stewart/Gordon MacDonald duo from the Montague Curling Club, who edged the three-time defending champion Walter Callaghan/John Vincent twosome from Western by a 5-4 score in last year’s final. The Ruth Stavert/Gloria Clarke rink from the Cornwall Curling Club are three-time defending champions in the women’s division, finishing with a perfect 5-0 record last year. The 2012 runners-up were the team of Audrey Callaghan of Western, and Ann Barwise of the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary.

Entries for the provincial championship closed on January 25, with 16 Open division teams, and three Women’s division rinks signed up. Rosters can be viewed at peicurling.com/stick.

The top four open division teams, and the top two women’s rinks from this year’s provincial championships from all three Maritime provinces earn the right to compete in the Maritime Stick Curling Championships, March 12-14 (revised dates) at the Montague Curling Club. The Ruth Stavert/Gloria Clarke duo are the defending women’s champs, and also won in 2010. The New Brunswick rink of Grace Donald and Diane Gallant were last year’s runners-up. The Floyd Stewart/Gordon MacDonald rink were runners-up in the open division last year, losing to the Carl Duggan/Keith Bennett team from Nova Scotia in the final.

The top two open division teams from the provincials also earn the right to compete in the 2013 Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship, April 1-4 at the Cornwall Curling Club. The defending champs from last year’s event in Regina are the Earl Stephenson and Warren Johnson team from Winnipeg MB. The Montague Curling Club rink of Basil and Sterling Higginbotham won the B consolation prize.

Although this is an “open” event,  entries are reserved for the top two teams from each of BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan. Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI. There are 32 spots available for other teams, for a total of 48 teams. Entry fee for this event is $120 per 2 person team, with a pay-per-win format, 5 games guaranteed, plus a banquet, and championship and consolation events. Entry deadline is March 1st. For more info, contact Shirley Lank  at (902) 621-0258 or lankshire.farms@pei.sympatico.ca, or visit StickCurling.ca. To enter the national event, send team roster with cheque to: 2013 PEI-National Stick. 780 Route 225, North Wiltshire, PE   C0A 1Y0.

The 28th Annual Char-“moo”-bel (slightly renamed to welcome our new title sponsor, Moosehead Breweries) “Fun Mixed” Bonspiel takes place February 22-23 at the Charlottetown Curling Complex. Team entry fee of $160 includes::

– three six end games in a Skins format with a $3000 prize pool (based on full entry)

– a 125th Birthday Theme.

– Friday Night: Chicken Dinner & Entertainment
– Saturday: Pancake Breakfast, Soup & Sandwich Buffet, Trivia and Prize Auction
– Two complimentary Beers per participant
– Early Bird draw for a $100 Bar tab – open to teams who register before February 11 2013!

In addition to Moosehead, Goldline has also come aboard as a sponsor and are offering an incentive to all clubs. The club (Charlottetown excluded) which sends the most teams  will receive $500 retail value in Goldline merchandise to be used for bonspiel, draw or raffle prizes.

You can also draw to the Button for the chance to win a 2013 Ford Fusion!! As well, the curler who is closest to the button will be oufitted in Goldline merchandise!

Enter using the following entry form::

CharMooBel 2013 entry form

The Suzanne Birt rink, which includes third Shelly Bradley, second Sarah Fullerton, lead Leslie MacDougall, and coach Peter Gallant won all five of their games in this year’s PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial women’s curling championship at the Charlottetown Curling Complex, including the final, in which they beat the defending champion Kim Dolan rink by a 6-3 score to advance to the national Scotties in Kingston Ont., Feb. 16-24. It’s the seventh PEI women’s title for Birt, a former World Junior champion. Other members of the runner-up rink skipped by Dolan, a nine time PEI women’s champ, are Rebecca Jean MacDonald, Sinead Dolan, and Michala Robison, with coach John Likely.

In tonight’s game, deuces in ends two, six, and eight gave the advantage to Birt. Dolan was never able to score more than one point in an end. Five teams took part in this year’s PEI women’s championship.

End by end game recaps are available on Twitter @SportsGuardian and retweeted @PEICurling

Photo (l-r) Peter Gallant (coach), Leslie MacDougall, Sarah Fullerton, Shelly Bradley, Suzanne Birt

Runner-up photo (l-r) Michala Robison, Sinead Dolan, Rebecca Jean MacDonald, Kim Dolan

The Sunday championship round is set following this evening’s tiebreaker game at the PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts Provincial Women’s Curling Championship at the Charlottetown Curling Complex, with Kim Dolan beating Lisa Jackson by a 6-4 score to advance to the 2 pm Sunday semi-final, against Kathy O’Rourke. Dolan, Jackson, and  O’Rourke all finished round robin play with 2-2 win-loss records.

Photo: Kathy O’Rourke rink

O’Rourke was awarded second place for having the best results in the team draw to the button skills ranking, with the other two 2-2 teams competing in the tiebreaker to determine third place.

The winner of the semi will then play Suzanne Birt, who finished the round robin in first place with a perfect 4-0 record, earning the bye to the 7 pm Sunday final. The PEI Scotties winner will advance to the national Scotties in Kingston Ont., Feb. 16-24.

Dolan has won the PEI women’s championship nine times, while Birt and O’Rourke have each won the title six times.

All three teams in the championship round, along with Jackson, are from the host club. The fifth team in the event, the Tammy Dewar rink from Montague, ended play on Friday with a 0-4 record.

Live end-by-end results from the PEI championship are available at peicurling.com/scotties.