The defending women’s champion and last year’s men’s finalist team took the “A” section, with the Philip Gorveatt rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex winning the Men’s A Qualifier Saturday morning with an 8-1 victory over Crapaud’s Alan Inman foursome, while the Shirley Berry squad beat their Cornwall clubmates the Shelley Ebbett team 8-3.
Alan Inman (left), A Qualifier winner Philip Gorveatt (right)
A Qualifier winner Shirley Berry (left), B Qualifier winner Shelley Ebbett
Berry and Ebbett were back for the B qualifier, after Berry stole a deuce in the 7th and a single in the 8th end in a 7-6 comeback B semi-final win over clubmate Debbie Rhodenhizer, and Ebbett, leading 6-1 after three ends against Sharon Horne and her Western Community Curling Club team, finished with a 9-2 score in her B semi.
The results of the B qualifier were very different from the “A”. Berry got off to a fast start by stealing a first-end triple, but Ebbett took control of the scoreboard after that, with a tying triple, a single steal, and a triple steal for a 7-3 lead at the fourth end break. The teams exchanged singles, and Ebbett brought the game to a speedy conclusion by stealing her third triple in the seventh, to end the game with an 11-4 win.
In the men’s division, Inman advanced to his second qualifier by stealing the extra end for a 4-3 win over Freddy Fraser and his Western Community foursome. “A” winner Gorveatt’s B semi-final game, against the host club’s Dale Cannon rink, also went to an extra end, but Cannon had last rock and scored a single for a 4-3 win.
Dale Cannon, holding the broom
In the men’s “B” Qualifier, Inman lead 4-3 at the break, but a sixth-end triple gave the lead to Cannon, and the teams traded singles in the final ends for a 7-5 victory for Cannon.
There are two draws on Sunday, with the “C” semis at 10 am, and the “C” qualifier games at 2 pm.
In the men’s semis, Gorveatt will again play Inman, while Fraser takes on Cannon. Team Berry takes on the Kim Aylward team from the host club in one women’s semi-final, while Ebbett will play clubmate Rhodenhizer in the other.
With two separate winners in both the men’s and women’s sections, this means that, as no team will win all three sections, there will be a championship round with the section winners on Monday in both divisions, at 10 am and, if needed, 2 pm. If any of the teams who won so far also wins the C qualifier, they would have a “double life” in the championship round and would win the event if they took either game against the other qualifier winner, while the other team would have to win both games.
The event winners will advance to the 2019 Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships, Mar. 23-28 at the new Chilliwack Curling Centre in Chilliwack BC.