The ten teams who started play on Wednesday at the PEI Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championships at the Montague Curling Rink have now been reduced to four, all from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, with the C and D qualifiers for the Page round being determined in this afternoon’s draw.
The C qualifier game between unseeded Blair Jay, and Robert Campbell, seeded second, was a nail-biter, with Jay grabbing an early 5-1 lead with a steal of four in the third end. Campbell then tied the game at 5-all with a single in four, and a stolen triple in five.The teams picked up a single each in ends six and eight to tie the game again. Jay pulled ahead with a deuce in nine, but Campbell tied it up with his own deuce, forcing the extra, but giving up last rock advantage. Jay picked up a deuce in the extra for a 10-8 win.Jay also beat Campbell, by a 5-3 score, when they met in the opening draw on Wednesday afternoon.
Jay normally curls out of the Silver Fox, but was a last minute replacement for Charlottetown’s John Likely, who is unable to curl due to an eye injury. Other members of the team are Mark Butler, Robbie Doherty, and Robbie Younker.
The Blair Weeks rink, seeded fourth in the event, downed the defending champion Rod MacDnald foursome, seeded third, by an 11-2 score in only six ends to grab the D qualifier. Weeks blanked the first end, and took triples in ends two and four, keeping MacDonald to single points in three and five. Weeks delivered a five-ender in the sixth to bring the game to an early conclusion. Other members of the Weeks team are Robert Shaw, Matthew Nabuurs, and Connor MacPhee, with coach Doug Weeks.
Defending champion Eddie MacKenzie won the B final 6-2 Friday evening over Charlottetown clubmate Robert Campbell, to advance to the Page A vs. B game Saturday at 7 pm. MacKenzie blanked the first two ends in the B qualifier, scored a deuce in the third, and stole a single and a deuce in the next two ends to lead 5-0 by the fifth end break. The teams traded singles in six and seven, and the game came to an early conclusion following another MacKenzie single in end eight.
The MacKenzie rink includes Anson Carmody, Tyler MacKenzie, and Sean Ledgerwood, with alternate player Phil Gorveatt, and coach Al Ledgerwood.
The top-seeded Jamie Newson rink was the first team to qualiify for the championship round, scoring four points in the ninth end in an 8-4 win over MacKenzie Friday afternoon to capture the “A” qualifier and advance to the Page A vs B.
Other members of the Newson rink are Andrew Robinson, Sean Clarey, and John Desrosiers, with alternate player Phillip McInnis, and coach Peter Gallant.
The winner of this evening’s 7 pm Page A vs B game between Newson and MacKenzie will advance directly to the 7 pm Sunday final, while the loser will get a second chance, taking on the winner of this evening’s Page C vs D between Jay and Weeks in the semi-final, 2 pm Sunday, with the winner going to the final.
The Tankard champion advances to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 1-9 at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops, BC.
End by end results from the PEI Tankard are available at PEICurling.com/tankard