The women’s championship game this afternoon at the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard World Curling Tour event in Toronto was won by the Allison Flaxey rink of Ontario, who beat the defending champion Mary Anne Arsenault foursome from Halifax 6-2 in the final, helped out by a four point seventh end. Flaxey edged Jacqueline Harrison of Ontario 3-2 in the semi-final round, while Arsenault doubled Mayflower Curling clubmate Heather Smith-Dacey 6-3.
The only all-PEI team in the World Curling Tour event, skipped by Suzanne Birt, went 2-2 in the women’s round robin, tied with a number of other teams. Top shootout scores were used to determine who made it to the playoff round, and Team Birt came up a bit short. The team report that they were pleased with the event and plan to return next year.
Glenn Howard and his Ontario rink doubled the Mike McEwen team from Winnipeg by a 6-3 score this afternoon to win the men’s final.. Howard was trailing 3-2, but scored a triple in the sixth, and stole a single in the seventh, running McEwen out of rocks in the last end.
Howard, who also won the event in 2010, beat Bryan Cochrane of Ontario 7-5 in the semi-final, and eliminated Brad Gushue and his St. John’s rink, which includes PEI natives Brett Gallant and Adam Casey, 4-3 in an extra end in the quarter-final round.
McEwen beat Mike Anderson of Markham 6-4 in the semis, and Marcus Hoiberg of Norway 8-2 in the quarters.