Stick curling provincial champs pleased with opportunity to play (Journal)

(by Eric McCarthy)

O’LEARY — Cornwall curlers Gloria Clarke and Ruth Stavert had no more than won their fifth P.E.I. Women’s Stick Curling Championship in six years Thursday when they both acknowledged last year’s provincial, the one they didn’t win, was their most memorable.

Gloria Clarke from left, and Ruth Stavert accept the Ladies Stick Curling P.E.I. Provincial Championship trophy from Clair Sweet, president of the host Maple Leaf Curling Club. The Cornwall duo beat out another Cornwall team to win their fifth provincial title in six years.

Clarke had just completed cancer treatment and Stavert was still recovering from hip replacement. Stavert relied on a specially made crutch just to support herself out on the ice. They finished third. Because one of the teams that finished ahead of them couldn’t go to the Maritime championship, they got to go and ended up winning the whole thing. The extra month of recovery time had helped, they agreed.

They remained on a roll at this year’s provincial championship at Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, scoring a deuce in the final end of their championship game against another Cornwall team Myrna Craswell and Etta Reid, for a 5-4 win and the title.

But Clarke said the title is secondary. “I do this because I enjoy it,” she said.

The veteran stick curlers feel they complement each other. “When I have a bad end, she pulls me through; when she has a bad end, I pull her through,” Clarke commented. “We like to win, but we do it for fun,” she stressed.

Ferguson-Logan Funeral Home and Bob’s Stick sponsored the provincial women’s and open championships.

A Cornwall team also claimed Stick Curling Provincial’s Open Division. Sterling Stratton and Barry Craswell, needed an extra end to get by the Montague team of Gordon MacDonald and Floyd Stewart in the final. They scored a point with hammer after MacDonald and Stewart tied the game 4-4 with a deuce in six.

Provincial Open stick curling champions, Barry Craswell, from left, and Sterling Stratton from the Cornwall Curling Club, are congratulated by Clair Sweet, president of the host Maple Leaf Curling Club and Bob Leard of Bob’s Stick, one of the sponsors of the championship event. They defeated the Montague team of Floyd Stewart and Gordon MacDonald 5-4 in an extra-end championship final.

Click to read full story and see more pictures, in the Journal Pioneer

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