Tiebreakers at 9 am, women’s semi at 2:30, men’s at 7:30 pm
(by Ryan Cooke)
SUMMERSIDE – Rod MacDonald’s path to the playoffs hit a major speed bump Friday night, when his P.E.I. rink lost to Newfoundland and Labrador’s Glen Goss.
P.E.I. third stone John Likely makes a shot while second stone Mark O’Rourke, left, and lead Peter MacDonald are the sweepers. The action took place at the 2013 Canadian senior curling championships on Friday.
That forced the Islanders into a tiebreaker with Ontario’s Howard Rajala foursome on Saturday morning. It’s a rematch of Friday morning’s round-robin game, which P.E.I. won 8-7.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s Wade White solidified his second-place finish with a 9-6 win over Northern Ontario’s Bruce Munro, and will advance to the semifinal.
Rajala cruised past Quebec’s Rob Maclean 10-2, putting himself in a position to force a tiebreaker, if Newfoundland and Labrador could defeat P.E.I.
Rajala’s hopes came down to Newfoundland and Labrador’s final toss, with P.E.I. sitting a heavily-guarded shot rock. Newfoundland and Labrador third stone Geoff Cunningham stepped up to throw last rock, as he had all game.
The packed crowd at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club collectively held their breath and moved to the edge of their seats as the stone curled perfectly around the guards, past shot rock and onto the button.
All P.E.I. third John Likely could do was stand there and admire the shot.
“He went way out wide and made a great draw,” Likely said. “We lost to a great team, a team that was the runner-up in Canada last year.”
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