Canada’s best four-player men’s and women’s teams will be chasing their gold-medal dreams when the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings gets underway Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

The Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, which will culminate with the men’s and women’s finals on Sunday, Dec. 10, will decide the four-player teams that will wear the Maple Leaf at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in February in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where Canada will attempt to defend the gold medals won by Jennifer Jones and Brad Jacobs four years earlier in Sochi, Russia.

Both Jones and Jacobs are back in the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings with the same lineups that were victorious in Sochi, and at the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings in Winnipeg.

But they will be challenged extremely hard by a collection of women’s and men’s teams that comprises by far the world’s toughest Olympic curling qualifying event.

In addition to the reigning Olympic champions, both reigning world champions will be on the ice at the Canadian Tire Centre.

On the women’s side, its hometown hopeful Rachel Homan looking to build on a 2016-17 season that saw her Ottawa lineup win the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in St. Catharines, Ont., and the World Women’s Championship, presented by Ford of Canada, in Beijing.

In the men’s field, meanwhile, is Brad Gushue’s St. John’s squad, which won its hometown Tim Hortons Brier last March and followed with gold at the Ford World Men’s Championship in Edmonton. Both Gushue and vice-skip Mark Nichols also have Olympic gold medals, having prevailed at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

They aren’t the only past gold-medallists in the men’s event as three-quarters of Kevin Martin’s winning squad in 2010 in Vancouver will be playing at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings. Martin’s front end of Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert are part of Kevin Koe’s Calgary team, which won the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier and World Men’s title and was second to Gushue at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier.

Martin’s 2010 vice-skip, John Morris, meanwhile, is skipping a Vernon, B.C., team that didn’t nail down its trip to Ottawa until qualifying out of the Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials earlier this month in Summerside, P.E.I. Morris was the runner-up to Jacobs at the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings in Winnipeg.

The men’s field is rounded out by Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Reid Carruthers, Toronto’s John Epping, Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock and Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher.

Completing the women’s field will be 2017 Scotties silver-medallist Michelle Englot of Winnipeg, 2016 Scotties champ Chelsea Carey of Calgary, 2016 Scotties silver-medallist Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., 2015 and 2014 Scotties silver-medallist Val Sweeting of Edmonton, Alli Flaxey of Toronto, Julie Tippin of Woodstock, Ont., and Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta.

The teams will play a round-robin draw beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. (all times Eastern) and running through to Friday, Dec. 8. The top three teams will make the playoffs, with the first-place teams advancing directly to the Sunday, Dec. 10, championship games (women at 2 p.m., men at 7 p.m.).

The second- and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 9, with the women playing at 2 p.m. and the men at 7 p.m.

It will be the sixth edition of the Canadian Curling Trials since curling was brought back as an official medal sport for the 1998 Winter Games at Nagano, Japan, and the first time the event has been played in Ontario. Previous editions were staged in 1997 at Brandon, Man., 2001 at Regina, 2005 at Halifax, 2009 at Edmonton and 2013 in Winnipeg.

Since those 1998 Olympics, Canadian teams have a perfect record in reaching the Olympic medal podium, a claim that can’t be made by any other National Sports Organization in the country.

In 1998, Regina’s Sandra Schmirler won gold while Toronto’s Mike Harris came home with silver; four years later in Salt Lake City, it was a silver medal for Martin and bronze for Kelley Law of New Westminster, B.C. At the 2006 Olympics, Gushue won the gold while Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink won bronze, while in 2010, Martin won gold and Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard was the silver-medallist, with Canada earning an unprecedented gold-medal sweep in Sochi.

TSN/RDS2, the official broadcast partner of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide complete coverage of the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings.

For ticket information, team lineups and the schedule, go to the event website: www.curling.ca/2017roaroftherings/.

Click to read this story at Curling Canada

Peter MacDonald, President and CEO of four auto dealerships on Prince Edward Island, became the 77th Chairman of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association at the Board of Directors’ meeting in Winnipeg, Man. in October. 

MacDonald takes over the Chairman role from Marc Bourassa, who stays on the CADA Board as the Immediate Past Chairman.

MacDonald moves into the Chairman’s seat from his previous role as the association’s First-Vice Chair. Apart from many years of experience on the CADA Board, MacDonald has also served as President of the Prince Edward Island Automobile Dealers Association (PEIADA).

The new Chairman can look forward to a busy and challenging term, as he oversees many of the association’s key files in the coming months. This includes the battle over HST on insurance products, getting vehicle recall legislation passed, the fight against small business tax changes, ensuring CADA’s voice continues to be heard in Ottawa, monitoring interventionist legislation regarding zero-emission vehicles, and a new Auto Career Start initiative to help spark more interest in dealership careers.

“We would like to thank Marc Bourassa for his leadership as Chairman, and look forward to having him continue to serve on our Executive for two more years,” said President & CEO John White. “I’m pleased to welcome Peter MacDonald as the new Chairman. Peter brings with him extensive knowledge as the head of several dealerships in PEI, and an abundance of experience having participated in several dealer-related activities and industry groups. This will help him guide the association through its endeavours on behalf of dealers.”

MacDonald graduated from the University of Prince Edward Island with a Bachelor of Business Administration Major in Accounting. He started his career in public accounting before moving into management in the private sector. In 1984, he decided to work for and buy the family Ford dealership in his hometown of Summerside. In 2006 he purchased the Ford dealerships in Charlottetown and Montague, and several years later he opened Summerside Hyundai with his brother.

He is also on the Board of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation in Charlottetown, PEI, and a council member and Past Chair of the PEI Canadian Forces Liaison Council. MacDonald has been involved in a variety of organizations, including being the President of the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce, Director of the Worker’s Compensation Board of PEI, Director of the Summerside Regional Development Corporation (SRDC), and the Past President of the Ford Dealer Roundtable Association of Canada (FDRA), among other things.

These roles have provided MacDonald with a well-rounded background in accounting, management and retail sales, and skills in developing budgets and creating department objectives. His expertise in this area, along with his experience planning, organizing and chairing work and taking part in volunteer program committees and executive meetings, makes him well-suited for the position of CADA Chairman.

MacDonald is a former recipient of the Maclean’s Dealer of Excellence award for Prince Edward Island. He was also awarded the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year for the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce, and he was nominated twice for the “Edsel B. Ford II Salute to Dealers” international award recognizing dealers contribution to their community.

Beginning in 1973, winning a provincial Junior Men’s Curling Championship and continuing on through to 2013, Peter MacDonald made his mark as a competitive curler on PEI.  As one of a talented curling family, many of his 17 provincial titles came while competing with family members as teammates.  In all, he had ten appearances at the Brier, three at the Mixed, two at the Seniors, one Juniors appearance, and one at the Canada Games.  His extensive volunteer activities over many years supporting curling, and his ongoing corporate sponsorship, together with his significant achievements on the ice were recognized on October 24 2016 when he was inducted into the PEI Curling Hall of Fame as a Curler/Builder.

The twentieth annual Foxy Lady Women’s Funspiel will be held at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht club on January 26 and 27, 2018. The theme is the Roaring twenties, so get your flapper dress out and come to Summerside for a great weekend! In honour of the 20th year they have opened it up to 48 teams as they had 7 teams on the waiting last year. 37 teams have already signed up, so sign up now to avoid disappointment! Further event details on the poster.

Proceeds from a new Chase the Ace lottery which was launched Nov. 22 at the Western Community Curling Club will support the curling club, the Alberton Lions Club and Alberton and area programs and services for the Canadian Mental Health Association P.E.I. Division.

Herb Meggison, from left, Alberton Lions Club; Fr. Art Pendergast, Western Community Curling Club and Les Wagner, Canadian Mental Health P.E.I. Division, conducted the first of a weekly Chase the Ace lottery in Alberton recently. – Eric McCarthy

Click for full story in the Journal Pioneer

The Veronica Smith rink is heading back to PEI following a 6-1 quarter-final loss to Julie McEvoy of Halifax at the Spitfire Arms Cashspiel in Windsor NS, finishing the weekend with a 2-2 win-loss record. McEvoy takes on Stacie Curtis from NL in one semi, with Jill Brothers facing Kristen MacDiarmid, both from Halifax, in the other. It’s Kendal Thompson vs. Brent MacDougall in one men’s semi-final and Mike Callaghan vs. Alan O”Leary in the other.

Veronica Smith (Emily Gray photo)

The women’s and men’s semis are at 11:30 am with the finals at 2:30 pm AT.

The Sandy Hope rink from the host Cornwall Curling Club won the 5th annual Masters Plus Bonspiel, which wrapped up on Friday. The George Anderson team from Sackville New Brunswick was the runner-up. Masters Plus teams have three curlers age 60 and over, plus one who is at least 55.

Photo (L-R): Arleen Harris, Debbie Rhodenhizer, Shelley Ebbett, Sandy Hope

There were 16 teams entered representing 6 curling clubs from N.S., N.B., and P.E.I.  A point system was used to determine the final standings. Following is the list of the top four teams:

Curling Club             Skip                Third                          Second                         Lead              

Cornwall       Sandy Hope    Shelley Ebbett       Debbie Rhodenhizer    Arleen Harris

Sackville        George Anderson  Michael Bass     Myles Trenholm    Ian MacLean

Cornwall       Bryan Sutherland    Carlene Peters        Etta Reid             Elaine Hughes

CFB Halifax   Paul Embrett           Lenny Jackson         Art Hood            Norman Sanford

Photo: Organizer Paul Arsenault (left) with George Anderson rink

Photo: Bryan Sutherland and Etta Reid from Team Sutherland

Photo: Paul Embrett rink

Next year’s Masters Plus Bonspiel will take place November 22 and 23, 2018. The host committee of Ed Coffin, Al Acorn, Ron Giggey , and Paul Arsenault want to extend a special thank you to Bev McCormick, Lance Lowther, and the fabulous staff of the Cornwall Curling Club. Also, a huge thank you to the superb volunteers who helped with this year’s event, which included advertising, scoring, making coffee, lunches etc. and to the daytime, stick and junior curlers who gave up their ice times for this event.

Thanks also to all the sponsors who supported this bonspiel by donating prizes:

Holland College, Fair Isle Ford, Quality Inn & Suites, Cornwall Quick Stop, Mr. Plumber, Honibe – Island Abbey Foods, KenMac Energy, Cornwall Auto, Garden Isle Computer, Kent Building Supplies, Beaton’s Wholesale Dry Goods Ltd., Capital Honda, Experience  Hyundai, Hillside Motors, Reliable Motors, Peter McNeill Automotive, All Star Cresting, Wine Kitz, Centennial Nissan, Mary’s Cornwall Bakery, Charlottetown Toyota, Markan Hardwood Plus Inc., Eagles Glenn Golf, COWS Ice Cream, Murphy’s Cornwall Pharmacy, Cornwall Pharmasave, Matos Winery, Water N Wine, Wine Experts, DB Murphy’s Tim Hortons/Wendy’s, Leary’s  Independent Grocers, Brown’s Volkswagen, Biovectra Inc. and Phytocultures Ltd., Red Shores Raceway, Home Hardware, Phillips Auto Sales, Paderno, Prebuilt Steel, Red Rock, King of Clubs, Kwik Copy, Saunders Investment.

Manitoba won a record fourth women’s title at the Travelers Curling Club Championship on Saturday while British Columbia’s men’s team won that province’s first-ever curling club championship – both in dominant fashion.

Skip Stacey Fordyce, third Christy Erickson, second Stacey Irwin and lead Pam Gouldie controlled their gold medal final from the first end against Nanette Dupont’s team from Alberta through to the last rock.

The team from Brandon stole two points in the second end to go up 4-0 on the team from Lethbridge and never looked back, stealing another five points in the fifth end before handshakes when the final reached 11-3 after six ends.

This is the second national title for Fordyce and team at this event, having won the 2013 championship in Thunder Bay.

“It feels just as special. We worked so hard to just make it here to Kingston and to come home with a medal that is golden is amazing,” Fordyce said inside the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club.

“Club curling is so strong in Manitoba and so is elite level curling but we’re really noticing that the women’s club level play is growing and to have this Travelers championship to compete in means so much to us,” she added before being named Most Valuable Player for the women’s event. The award was chosen by the Curling Canada umpires.

The Cataraqui Golf and Country club hosted the 9th year of the Travelers Curling Club Championship and Fordyce commended the volunteers and members for a first class experience.

“We’ve been treated like royalty. Our team ambassadors, our drivers and all of the volunteers and the side events have been so memorable.”

British Columbia’s Bart Sawyer was named Most Valuable Player for the men. The B.C skip broke his gold medal final wide open in the third end with a big score of five points against Manitoba’s Mark Anderson. B.C. was trailing 1-0 when Sawyer attempted a split for six but missed. It was still enough to take full control of the game. B.C. went on to win the final 7-3.

This was the first national event for Sawyer, third Steve Waatainen, second Craig Burton and lead Keith Clarke. The team from the Nanaimo Curling Centre lost only one game all week.

“To be able to win a national championship or even to have one we can compete in with my parents watching in the stands is pretty special. There aren’t words to describe this right now,” Sawyer, 43, said in Kingston.

Sawyer spoke highly of his competitors both in the final and across the other sheets of play. The men’s bronze medal game between Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta paused their game to congratulate the gold and silver medalists as it wrapped up on the neighbouring sheet.

“That’s something you don’t see in a lot of other sports and even in some other curling events. We can’t say enough about the other guys we met and chatted with this week,” Sawyer added.

The team from the Riverview Curling Club in Brandon of Anderson, third Jeremy Short, second Bryce Granger and lead Riley Willows leave Kingston with silver medals.

In the women’s bronze medal game it was host Ontario who slid past Nova Scotia. The team from the High Park Curling Club in Toronto climbed the podium in Kingston thanks to a 10-3 win on Saturday morning. This was skip Jodi McCutcheon’s second medal at the Travelers Championship, having won silver in 2011.

The men’s bronze medal game was won by Alberta’s John Mryglod who defeated the 2015 men’s Canadian champions from Newfoundland and Labrador by a score of 10-4 in seven ends.

Sportsmanship awards were handed out after the medal games on Saturday to both men’s and women’s players for each position. The awards were chosen by a vote from their fellow competitors. For the women the winners were lead Kristy Bird of Saskatchewan, second Nichole Dubuc-Charbonneau of Northern Ontario, third Krista Wesley of Northwest Territories and skip Wendy Dunne of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Winners of the men’s sportsmanship awards were lead Clayton Pielak of Northwest Territories, second Christian Bilodeau of Quebec, third Eiryn Devereaux and skip Leo Stewart of Team PEI.

Fourteen women’s teams and 14 men’s team from each of Curling Canada’s Member Associations were represented in Kingston for the week long event. The 9th annual event featured the best curling club champions in both genders split into two pools. At the completion of the split round robins the top team was placed into the semi final, while the second and third place teams played off in crossover quarterfinals.

Each team was allowed only one player who had played in a provincial/territorial Juniors’, Men’s (Brier), Women’s (Scotties) or Seniors’ championship in the current or previous four curling seasons, or participated in a full-field Grand Slam event in the current or previous four curling seasons.
As well, no player on the teams could have played in a Canadian Juniors, Men’s, Women’s or Seniors national championship in the current or previous four seasons.

Click to read this story at Curling Canada