Tyler Smith and his Montague Curling Club team of 3rd Brooks Roche, 2nd Dylan Lowery, and lead Ryan Lowery, with coach Kevin Smith, swept the first two games in the Canada Games Selection Finals best of three series against the Alex MacFadyen team from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, and will advance to the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George BC. Smith also skipped the Island’s 2011 men’s entry in the Games.
(L-R): Tyler Smith, Brooks Roche, Dylan Lowery, Ryan Lowery. Missing from photo: coach Kevin Smith
MacFadyen was unable to play this weekend due to illness, so third James Dalton moved up to skip, with their alternate, Alberton’s Leslie Noye. filling in at third. Matthew MacDonald plays second, and Parker MacFadyen throws lead stone for the team, which is coached by David MacFadyen. The Smith team won the first game 12-4 this morning, and took their 2nd game this afternoon by a 8-3 score, making a third game unnecessary. After blanking the first end this afternoon, the Smith team scored singles in ends 2 and 3. The MacFadyen rink scored a single in the 4th, with Smith blanking the 5th and recording a triple in the sixth, to lead 5-1. Team MacFadyen narrowed the gap to two points with a pair of singles, but a Smith triple in 9 brought the game to a speedy conclusion.
Meanwhile, it’s down to a sudden death final on Sunday at 1 pm for the PEI women’s berth at the 2015 Canada Games. The Charlottetown Curling Complex team of skip Lauren Moerike, 3rd Ashley Gallant, 2nd Annika Kelly, and lead Tati Kelly, with coach Angela Hodgson tied up their best of 3 series against the Kaleigh Mackay foursome from Crapaud with a 9-6 come-from-behind win this afternoon to force a deciding game on Sunday. Mackay and her team of third Danielle Collings, second stone Alyssa Wright, and lead Kaleigh Peters, with coach AJ Campbell, won the 1st game this morning, by an 11-3 score.
In this afternoon’s match, Mackay had a 3-0 lead after 2 ends, with Moerike scoring a deuce in the third. The teams traded singles in 4 and 5 to give Mackay a 4-3 edge at the half. Mackay scored another in the sixth for a two point lead, but a triple in the seventh gave Moerike the lead for the first time in the game. Mackay took a single in the eighth, but Moerike responded with a double in the ninth, and held Mackay to a single in the final end for the win.
The 2015 Canada Games take place February 13-March 1, 2015 in Prince George BC, with the men’s curling event taking place during Week 1 (Feb. 13-21) and the women’s event being held Week 2 (Feb. 21-Mar. 1).