Two teams were off to flying starts on day one of  the PEI Scotties Tournament of Hearts Provincial Women’s Curling Championship at the Charlottetown Curling Complex.  The Shirley Berry team from Cornwall and the Silver Fox, and the Kathy O’Rourke team both have 2-0 records, while Lisa Jackson and defending champion Suzanne Birt are 0-1, and last year’s runner-up team, skipped by Kim Dolan, is 0-2 in round robin play. All teams except the Berry rink are from the host club.

Photo: Berry, O’Rourke, Birt

The Berry rink, who are former Seniors champs, and had to substitute regular lead Arleen Harris with Karen Currie at the last minute when Harris was unable to return from Calgary in time due to weather delays, won their opener 7-6 over Dolan in an extra end, and went on to beat Lisa Jackson 8-5 in the evening draw, following a triple in the sixth end with a stolen deuce and single to build up an 8-4 lead after 8 ends.

A stolen second end and a ninth-end triple gave O’Rourke the advantage in an 8-4 decision over Kim Dolan in the evening draw. Earlier, she scored a deuce in the extra end in an 8-6 win over defending champion Birt.

The Future Scotties, a four-team round robin for Junior curlers who may one day compete in the Scotties, takes to the ice at 10 am Friday, followed by Scotties round robin draws at 2 and 7 pm.  The 2 pm draw sees O’Rourke take on Jackson, and Dolan face Birt, while the evening matchups see Berry play O’Rourke in a battle between opening day leaderrs, and Birt take on Jackson.

Admission is free for the Future Scotties, and $5 a  draw or $25 for a full event pass for the Scotties. The  Scotties finals go Sunday, with the winning  team advancing to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 1-9 at the Maurice Richard Arena, Montreal, QC.

End by end results from the PEI Scotties are available at PEICurling.com/scotties