Four young teams from the Island with their sights set on competing in the 2019 Canada Games, took part in the Curl Moncton Youth Spiel and Canada Games Mini Development Camp over the weekend, with three of the four PEI rinks advancing to the three division finals, and two winning their divisions. The eligibility age for curling for the 2019 Canada Games is any athlete born Jan 1, 2001 or later.
Photo: Team Schut
In the finals, the Mitchell Schut rink from the Cornwall Curling Club came from behind to beat the Ethan Young team from the Halifax Mayflower Club 6-4 while the Callie Wood foursome, skipped by Olivia Barbour, edged their Silver Fox clubmates the Cruz Pineau team by a 5-4 score. The other division, which included older teams, saw the Josh Nowlan team from Moncton come out as the winners over the Erica Cluff team from Woodstock NB. Nowlan is the grand son of Lou and Marge Nowlan from Summerside.
Photo (L-R): Mitchell Schut, Colin MacKenzie, Michael MacEwen, Liam Kelly, coach Nancy Yeo
Schut was trailing 4-2 after four ends in his six end final, but pulled off a double in the fifth end to score three and lead 5-4 coming home without hammer. Young was light on his last shot, giving the win to Schut. Other members of the Schut team are third Colin MacKenzie, second Michael MacEwen, and lead Liam Kelly, with coach Nancy Yeo.
Photo: Barbour/Wood team
The Barbour/Wood team got off to a flying start in her game against Fox clubmate Cruz Pineau, leading 5-1 at the third end break. Pineau came on strong in the second half, picking up singles in ends four and five to narrow the gap to 5-3 coming home. Pineau stole a single in the last end — final score Wood 5 Cruz 4. Other members of the Barbour Wood rink are Jordan Dunphy-Condon and Olivia Wood, with coach Shelley MacFadyen. Rounding out the Pineau squad, also coached by MacFadyen, are Brock Rochford, Jack MacFadyen, and Logan Rogers.
Photo (L-R): Shelley MacFadyen, Olivia Barbour,, Callie Wood, Jordan Dunphy-Condon. Missing: Olivia Wood
Photo: Cruz Pineau rink
The other PEI team in the event, the Alexis Burris rink from Cornwall, won their consolation final by a big margin over the Kate Larlee squad from Fredericton’s Capital Winter Club. Completing the Burris team are Sydney Howatt, Meghan Sherren, and Madelyn Cantwell, with coach A.J. Campbell.
During the weekend, the teams also received on and off ice developmental training, led by the NB Curling Association’s Master Learning Facilitator Brian Rice.
Photo: Brian Rice (red jacket) gives instruction to Michell Schut, as Burris and Schut team members watch