At tonight’s Curl PEI AGM and awards night at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside’s Sheila Compton was presented with the 2013 Marion Dockendorff Scotties Appreciation Award, presented annually to a female curler (or curlers) who has shown great dedication to the sport on a local, provincial, and/or national level. The award’s name honours curling pioneer Marion Dockendorff. The award winner was announced during the Scotties banquet in January, and the award was presented to her tonight.

Photo (L-R): Curl PEI President George Koke, Sheila Compton

Compton has been a valued and devoted member of the Silver Fox Curling Club since 1980, and gives her heart and soul to many aspects of the facility, including the junior program, women’s curling, national events, and anything else that a volunteer is needed for. She can always be counted on to give 100% dedication.

The recipient has spent the last 10 years coaching in the club’s junior program.  She has nurtured and guided many young girls and boys, and has given them a life-long love of the sport.  This season alone, she has organized four junior spiels – the Fall Fling,  the December Cashspiel, the Christmas Classic, and the January Freeze – that are always full and usually have a waiting list to enter.  She ensures that each and every junior curler has a tremendous experience in the event.

She has turned the Foxy Ladies Funspiel. annual event into a “hot ticket” that never disappoints.  Once again this past season, there was a waiting list, and many curlers sign up for the following year before the current event is completed.

Compton has been on the Fox curling executive for over 10 years and this year took on the role of chairperson for every funspiel the club hosted.  To say she has a knack for hosting is an understatement.

This year’s recipient is also a great supporter of national events that come to PEI.  For the 2002 Karcher Juniors Canadian Curling Championship, she was the committee head for decorating.  Not only was the Silver Fox beautiful, but the former Cahill Stadium never looked better.  She made sure that when CBC was ready to broadcast the arena was ready to go too.

She was a key figure in the Silver Fox’s hosting of two previous Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships.  Once again, she is an active member of the 2013 host committee for the Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships.

She was a volunteer for the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts that was held in Charlottetown.  Braving the winter weather, she never missed a shift as an on-ice observer.

The ADL/Sport PEI Awards for curling were presented tonight at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside following Curl PEI’s Annual General Meeting. The Rod MacDonald rink, Provincial Senior Men’s champions, were the winners of the Team of the Year honours.

Photo (L-R): Claude LeBlanc, ADL Corporate Sales Manager, Rod MacDonald, Mark O’Rourke. Missing from photo: John Likely, Peter MacDonald

The team of Rod MacDonald (skip), John Likely (third), Mark O’Rourke (second), and Peter MacDonald (lead) were provincial champions this season in the Credit Unions of PEI Provincial Senior Men’s Curling Championship, and advanced to the Canadian Seniors in Summerside, the hometown of the MacDonald brothers, finishing round robin play tied for third with an 8-3 win-loss record, before losing out in a tiebreaker, realizing skip Rod’s goal of curling in a Canadian championship in his hometown. The other three members of the team all made the all-star teams, determined by their shooting percentages, with Peter MacDonald and O’Rourke making the 1st team all-stars and Likely making the second team.

The experienced team of PEI Tankard veterans was unbeatable at the provincial seniors, going through round robin play with a perfect 5-0 win-loss record to earn a bye to the final, against 2011 PEI Seniors champ Bill Hope, which they won by a 7-4 final score.

Rod MacDonald and his brother-in-law Mark O’Rourke also teamed up with other players to enter the PEI Tankard (with Peter as coach), where they finished as runners-up, and the Provincial Mixed, which they won.

The ADL/Sport PEI Awards for curling were presented tonight at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside following Curl PEI’s Annual General Meeting.

Peter Gallant won the coach of the year award, with Peter Pidgeon taking official of the year honours.

Peter Gallant

Photo (L-R): Claude LeBlanc, ADL Corporate Sales Manager, Shelly Bradley of Team Birt, accepting on behalf of their coach Peter Gallant, who was out of the province and unable to attend the awards ceremony

Peter Gallant coached the Suzanne Birt rink to a first place finish at the 2013 PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s championship, going on to coach them at the nationals, were they finished just out of the playoffs, and also coached the Christopher Gallant team to a second place finish at the provincial Pepsi Juniors this season. With Peter’s help, the Birt rink qualified for the championship round in all the cashspiels, except one, that they entered this season, finishing as runners-up twice, while the Gallant team won the Fall Fling junior bonspiel in Summerside. Peter also served as the coach of the Brad Gushue rink of St. John’s NL, which includes his son Brett, at the Brier, where they finished fourth, and in other events.

The teams he coaches give him high praise, mentioning his positive energy and attitude, his motivational skills, and also saying that he makes himself available for day to day practices, and noting that he is very knowledgeable, technically and strategically, about the game.

Peter Pidgeon

Photo (L-R): Claude LeBlanc, ADL Corporate Sales Manager, Eric Pidgeon, accepting on behalf of his father, Peter Pidgeon, who was unable to attend the awards ceremony

Peter Pidgeon has recently returned to umpiring after being a noteworthy coach for several years. He  attained his Level 2 officiating certification two seasons ago and has been a great asset to the umpiring community on PEI since that time.

He  is willing to travel to any of the clubs on the Island to help out. This is much appreciated as it can be difficult to find people who can do so.

He  always arrives early so he can ensure that things are ready for the day. He  makes sure he follows the routines which have been established so that all teams know what to expect from the coin toss, to the practice, to the playing of the game.

He took a timer training course to familiarize himself with the new “Thinking Time” concept used this year for the first time.

He proved that he could handle situations where not just knowledge was required, but where patience and tact were also needed. Peter remained calm and didn’t get  upset when faced with problems. He was not afraid to ask for help if and when it was required.

Pidgeon also worked at events in other capacities. He was at the Players’ Championship in Summerside doing statistics. He worked the National Seniors in Summerside this year as an on-ice observer, and did a great job.

Peter  has shown great dedication and commitment to the umpiring community on PEI.

The ADL/Sport PEI Awards for curling were presented tonight at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside following Curl PEI’s Annual General Meeting. The winners of the Junior Female and Male Athlete of the Year awards were Aleya Quilty and Tyler Smith.

Photo (L-R) Claude LeBlanc, ADL Corporate Sales Manager, Aleya Quilty, Tyler Smith, Curl PEI President George Koke

Aleya Quilty

Aleya Quilty had a busy curling and coaching season, playing on both the Amanda MacLean team, the provincial runners-up at the Pepsi Juniors, and the Veronica Smith university team, who qualified for the CIS/CCA nationals with a B division win, and went on to a 5^th place finish in Kamloops, where she had the highest shooting percentage for Team PEI. The MacLean team also competed in the Fall Fling at the Silver Fox, finishing 5^th, as well as the Codiac Bonspiel in Moncton, the Maritime Junior Competitive League, and the JSI-OVCA Super Spiel in the Ottawa area, as well as practicing several hours a week, and competing in the Tuesday night competitive league at the Cornwall Curling Club.

On the coaching and instructing front, she coached boy’s teams in the Under 16 and Under 18 provincials and in weekend competitions, completed her Level 3 Coaching technical training and all six competition development and multi-sport modules,and instructed at two junior development and high performance camps. She will also be working as an instructor at the 2013 Whitecap Curling Camp at Cornwall’s APM Centre.

Quilty also excels in the sport of rowing, with three 2 hour dry land training workouts a week in preparation for competing for Team PEI in the 2013 Canada Summer Games.

An honours student throughout grade school, high school, and 1^st year university, Quilty was awarded in 2012-13 with a 2012 Joyce Myers Trust Fund Scholarship, a Community Service Bursary, and an Earl D. Foster Entrance Scholarship to UPEI.

Tyler Smith

Former PEI Canada Games team skip Tyler Smith had another busy year, finishing in the top three in four provincial championships – coming first in the Pepsi Junior Under 21 competition, second in both the O’Connor Glass Under 18 and the Advantage Communications Junior Mixed championships U16 division, and third in the O’Connor Glass Under 16. At the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Fort McMurray, his team finished with a 3-6 record. The second place finish in the provincial U18’s garnered the Smith rink a berth in the Atlantic U18 championships in Stephenville NL, where they finished in third place. Smith managed to curl in all four Atlantic provinces during the season, competing in junior cashspiels in Sackville NB, where they came second, and at the Lakeshore curling club in Lower Sackville NS, where they finished in third place,  in addition to the provincial and Atlantic championships. He also practiced twice a week at the Cornwall Curling Club, and participated in competitive leagues both there and in Crapaud.

Here is a gallery of photos from this evening’s Curl PEI Annual General Meeting and ADL/Sport PEI curling awards.Click thumbnails to enlarge, and use arrows to go ahead and back.

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The final category for the ADL/Sport PEI curling awards is “Team of the Year”. This year’s finalists are the Rod MacDonald-skipped Senior Men’s team out of the Charlottetown Curling Complex and the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, and this year’s Canadian Stick Curling champions, the Roddie MacLean and Paul Field duo from the Cornwall Curling Club. The winning “Team of the Year” will be announced at the awards, being held Wednesday May 29 at the Silver Fox in Summerside in conjunction with Curl PEI’s Annual General Meeting, which will take place first (with a meal) at 5:30 pm, with the award presentations following at about 7:15 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend – there is no cost. Attendees are required to RSVP to Curl PEI Executive Director Amy Duncan today (Friday, May 24) at [email protected] or 902-368-4208.

Photo (Right to Left): Rod MacDonald, John Likely, Mark O’Rourke, Peter MacDonald

The team of Rod MacDonald (skip), John Likely (third), Mark O’Rourke (second), and Peter MacDonald (lead) were provincial champions this season in the Credit Unions of PEI Provincial Senior Men’s Curling Championship, and advanced to the Canadian Seniors in Summerside, the hometown of the MacDonald brothers, finishing round robin play tied for third with an 8-3 win-loss record, before losing out in a tiebreaker, realizing skip Rod’s goal of curling in a Canadian championship in his hometown. The other three members of the team all made the all-star teams, determined by their shooting percentages, with Peter MacDonald and O’Rourke making the 1st team all-stars and Likely making the second team.

The experienced team of PEI Tankard veterans was unbeatable at the provincial seniors, going through round robin play with a perfect 5-0 win-loss record to earn a bye to the final, against 2011 PEI Seniors champ Bill Hope, which they won by a 7-4 final score.

Rod MacDonald and his brother-in-law Mark O’Rourke also teamed up with other players to enter the PEI Tankard (with Peter as coach), where they finished as runners-up, and the Provincial Mixed, which they won.

Photo: Roddie MacLean (left) and Paul Field with the Canadian Stick Curling Championship trophy

When you take up a new sport, you don’t normally expect to win its Canadian Championship in your first season, but that’s exactly what happened to new 2-person stick curlers Roddie MacLean and Paul Field from the Cornwall Curling Club. Both were experienced players of the traditional four-person hack-delivery format, although Field had stepped away from competitive curling for a number of years due to the hours he had to put in at his busy flower shop. When he sold the business, he was looking for something new to do, and discovered tthe relatively new sport of stick curling, teaming up with MacLean, who was also just taking up the sport. They picked the right year to do it, with the Maritime championship taking place only 50 minutes away in Montague, and the national championships being at their home club, the first time it had been held east of Winnipeg.

The duo came incredibly close to winning the provincials, losing the final 4-3 in TWO extra ends to the Walter Callaghan/John Vincent pair from the host Western Community Curling Club, who had won the event three times before and were runners-up last year. Their runner-up finish gave them a berth in the Maritime championships, where they made it as far as the quarter-final round, gaining valuable experience and proving that they could be competitive at the regional level. Their provincial second place finished also gave them a guaranteed spot in the nationals, where they went undefeated in the triple knockout round, pulling off a six-ender in one of their games. Since there are only six rocks per team each end in stick curling, this is the equivalent of a rare eight-ender in traditional curling, and they were awarded with prizes and a patch for this at the closing ceremonies.

The duo managed two wins by one-point margins in the championship round, bringing them to the final against the defending champion Earl Stephenson/Warren Johnson twosome from the St. Vital Curling Club in Winnipeg. The score was 4-2 for the Island pair coming home without last rock advantage, and they stole a deuce for a 6-2 final score to win the Canadian Championship in front of an excited hometown crowd who also got to witness Cornwall teams win the women’s division and the consolation round, and a Montague rink take the bronze medal game.

Curling Zone’s Far From Home series catches up with Olympic Gold Medallist Brad Gushue and his Newfoundland and Labrador team, which includes PEI natives Brett Gallant and Adam Casey:

Peter Gallant and Pat Quilty are the finalists in this season’s “Coach of the Year” category at the ADL/Sport PEI curling awards, being held in conjunction with Curl PEI’s Annual General Meeting on May 29 at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in  Summerside.

Peter Gallant (right) with the Christopher Gallant rink at the 2013 Pepsi Juniors

Peter Gallant coached the Suzanne Birt rink to a first place finish at the 2013 PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s championship, going on to coach them at the nationals, were they finished just out of the playoffs, and also coached the Christopher Gallant team to a second place finish at the provincial Pepsi Juniors this season. With Peter’s help, the Birt rink qualified for the championship round in all the cashspiels, except one, that they entered this season, finishing as runners-up twice, while the Gallant team won the Fall Fling junior bonspiel in Summerside. Peter also served as the coach of the Brad Gushue rink of St. John’s NL, which includes his son Brett, at the Brier, where they finished fourth, and in other events.

The teams he coaches give him high praise, mentioning his positive energy and attitude, his motivational skills, and also saying that he makes himself available for day to day practices, and noting that he is very knowledgeable, technically and strategically, about the game.

Pat Quilty (left), with David O’Connor of sponsor O’Connor Glass, winning the Girl’s Division coaching award at the provincial Under 16 championships

Pat Quilty has coached Cornwall’s Rachel O’Connor rink for three years, helping them with their goal of representing PEI in the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Although they are in the Under 16 age group, he also encouraged them to participate in the Under 21 and Under 18 provincials, teaching them that they could be competitive in the older age categories, and helping them to achieve their goal of winning the Under 16 event, a goal which they achieved, going undefeated in the competition. He also coached the winning Under 16 Junior Mixed team, which included two members of the O’Connor rink, this season.

Quilty was awarded the Asham Coaching award, which is voted on by all the coaches in the event, in both the Under 18 and Under 16 provincials. The O’Connor rink was very encouraged by the results they attained this year with his assistance, and are looking forward to next season and the upcoming Canada Games trials.

The team noted that Quilty looks for the positive in each player, and is always willing to take the time needed during weekday practices and weekend competitions. When the team participated in the Whitecap curling camp in Halifax this past summer, he went too, signing on as an instructor to work with young curlers at the camp.