The Jamie Newson rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the top-seeded Adam Casey foursome from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside and the Charlottetown Curling Complex, have advanced to the first of three section finals in the modified triple knockout round of the six team Curl PEI Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championship, which got underway today at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton. Today’s draws were delayed three hours due to road and weather conditions.
Unseeded Newson had to play two games today, beating Summerside’s Blair Jay 9-5 in his opener, and #2 seed Tyler Harris and his Charlottetown rink by an 8-6 score in his evening game. #1 seed Casey had a first-round bye, and was in control in his only game, blanking Charlottetown’s Robert Campbell squad 8-0 in seven ends. Newson and Harris now square off in the A final, at 10 am Saturday, while Harris takes on clubmate Tyler MacKenzie, and Campbell faces Summerside’s Blair Jay in B section playoffs at the same time. MacKenzie lost his opener 8-0 to Campbell, while Jay lost his to Newson.
The 3:30 pm Saturday draw, following the 3:45 pm opening ceremonies, sees another game in the B round, and the first game in the last-chance C qualifier round. Also in that draw is the opening game of the Future Tankard three game round robin series, a developmental event for male curlers under 21, who are partnered with a Tankard team, and also get to participate in the meal and the opening ceremonies. Cornwall’s Devin Schut takes on Summerside’s Alex Gallant in the opening Future Tankard draw.
The winners of the three Tankard sections advance to the Championship Round on Tuesday, unless one team wins all three knockout rounds, in which case they will immediately be declared the champion. If a team wins two sections, they will play in both Tuesday games, and win the title if they win either game, while their opponent would have to play both. If there are three separate winners, the team that plays in the most qualifier matches gets the bye to the second game. If there is a tie in number of games played, the earliest (A) qualifier advances to the second game.
Here is an end by end (reverse order) recap of tonight’s games:
End 10: Newson runs Harris out of rocks. Newson 8 Harris 6 Final
End 9: Harris draws against 2, gets 1. Newson 8 Harris 6
End 8: Newson tries to hit and roll out for the blank but sticks for 1. Newson 8 Harris 5
End 7: Harris hits and sticks for 2. Newson 7 Harris 5. Campbell draws vs 3. Bit heavy. Steal of 2. Game over. Casey 8 Campbell 0
End 6: Harris draws against 3, ticks guard. Newson steals 3, leads 7-3. Campbell runback vs 3 gets 1. Casey steals 2, leads 6 -0
End 5: Newson draws for 2 but is light and only gets 1. Newson 4 Harris 3. Campbell misses double, Casey steals 1 to lead 4-0.
End 4: Newson throws through for the blank. Newson 3 Harris 3.
Campbell a bit heavy in draw against 1. Casey steals another. Casey 3 Campbell 0.
End 3: Campbell hits and rolls out for blank. Casey 2 Campbell 0 Harris made a fantastic shot for 1. Newson 3 Harris 3
End 2: Newson taps back Harris rock for 3. Newson 3 Harris 2. Campbell draws vs 3 or 4. A bit short. Casey steals 1 to lead 2-0.
End 1: Newson tries double, ticks guard. Harris steals 2 to lead 2-0. Campbell misses in-off for a few. Casey steals to lead 1-0
Games on ice sheets 1 and 2 in the Tankard event are being live-streamed at Bell Aliant Community One at the following address: http://live.streamit.ca/?player=2223
Event website: PEICurling.com/tankard20142015
Live Curlcast results at: http://curlatlantic.com/scoreboard/#/competitions/1362-2015-tankard-men-s-curling-championship-pei/scoreboard
Follow along with end recaps on Twitter @PEICurling