The Credit Unions of PEI Provincial Seniors Curling Championships, for curlers age 50 and over, get underway with the opening ceremonies Thursday evening at 6:15 at the Cornwall Curling Club, with the opening draw following at 7 pm.  The women’s final will go at 7 pm Sunday, while the men’s will take place either at the same time, or 1:30 pm Monday, in the event that two tiebreakers are needed. Admission to watch the PEI Seniors is free – there will a donation jar to help out the Club’s Junior program, and the club will also be selling 50×50 tickets at each draw. The daytime curlers will be selling food during the noon-hour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Piper Calum Brydon will be piping in the dignitaries and curlers for the opening ceremonies. He is a grade nine student at East Wiltshire Intermediate. Calum will be selling tickets after the opening to help finance his trip to the World Pipe Band Championship in Scotland in August, with the College of Piping. First prize from the College’s draw is a trip for two to Scotland, accompanying the College of Piping bands. Click for more info on the College’s fundraiser.

Friday through Sunday draws go at 10 am, and 2:30 and 7 pm. Six men’s and five women’s rinks are taking part. The defending men’s champion Rod MacDonald rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex is back, but last year’s women’s champs, the Nola Murphy rink, are not participating.

Also in this year’s event is the Jennifer Scott team from Montague, which includes all four members of their 1988 provincial women’s championship team. Other entrants include the Bill Hope rink from the host club and from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, who won the event back in 2011, and Cornwall’s Shirley Berry rink. Berry is a five time Seniors champ, winning her first Seniors title  at Cornwall back in 2002. Hope and Berry were last year’s runners-up. Berry won the Master’s women’s title this year, and is third on the Mark MacDonald rink who are curling in the Provincial Mixed final this evening.

Rounding out the women’s field are Kathy Clarey from Montague, and Karen Currie and Carol Kennedy from the host club.

The men’s entries also include Ted MacFadyen, from the Silver Fox, who is a six-time Seniors champ and five-time men’s Tankard winner, and won the Master’s men’s event this year.

Completing the men’s field are the Blair Weeks rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the Blair Jay and Leo Stewart foursomes from the Silver Fox.

The winning men’s and women’s teams will advance to the Canadian Seniors, March 22-30 at the Yellowknife Curling Centre, the first time the Canadian Curling Association has ever held a national championship in the Northwest Territories.

Full round robin draw, team rosters, and end by end results  available at PEICurling.com/seniors

The 2014 O’Connor Glass/Curl PEI Provincial Under 18 Curling Championships take place February 20-24 at the Charlottetown Curling Complex. The defending men’s and women’s champions, respectively, are the Tony Nabuurs rink, a combined team with members from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the Montague and Maple Leaf curling clubs, and the Jenny McLean foursome from Summerside’s Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club. McLean is back this year. Six men’s and an equal number of women’s teams are entered.

The U18 men’s field includes the two Canada Games Training Teams, skipped by Alex MacFadyen from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside, and the Tyler Smith foursome out of the Montague Curling Club. Other entries are skipped by Spencer Stetson and Devin Schut from  the Cornwall Curling Club, Justin Campbell from  the Silver Fox, and Leslie Noye from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton.

The U18 women’s teams also include the two Canada Games Training Teams, skipped by Kaleigh MacKay from the Montague and Crapaud clubs, and by Lauren Moerike, out of the Charlottetown Curling Complex. Also entered are the Meghan Ching and Jessica Watts teams from Cornwall, and the Karlie Lewis team from Western Community.

Games in this event are 8 ends. Thursday round robin draws go at 3:30 and 7 pm, with Friday draws at 9:30 am, and  2 and 7 pm, with opening ceremonies at 1:15 pm. Round robin play wraps up on Saturday with draws  at 9:30, 2, and 6:30. Tiebreakers, if needed, go Sunday at 9:30 am, and 2:30 pm, with semi-final between 2nd and 3rd place teams following at 2:30 or 6:30 pm, depending on tiebreakers, and finals going either Sunday at 6:30 pm, or Monday at 4:30 pm, depending on tiebreakers.

Full round robin draw, team rosters, and results available at PEICurling.com/under18.

The winning men’s and women’s rinks will advance to the Atlantic Under 18 Curling Championships, April 4-6 at the Gage Curling Club in Oromocto NB.