The Mitchell Schut team from the host Cornwall Curling Club had two chances to repeat as PEI Under 18 Boy’s champs on Monday, but they only needed the first game, defeating the Chase MacMillan squad from the Charlottetown Curling Complex by an 8-3 score in seven ends. Schut had a 5-1 lead after four ends, picking up a deuce with hammer in the opening end, and a triple in the fourth. MacMillan was kept to one in the fifth, and looked to be setting up to steal a couple in the sixth, but a Schut runback took care of one rock, and a difficult angle runback took out the other, and gave the Cornwall team their second three-point end of the game and an 8-2 lead. After scoring only a single in the seventh, MacMillan decided it was handshake time.
PEI U18 Boy’s Championship Team (L-R): Mitchell Schut (skip), Nick Johnston (3rd), Liam Kelly (2nd), Colin MacKenzie (lead), Lori Robinson (coach), from the Cornwall Curling Club
PEI U18 Boy’s Finalist rink (L-R): Chase MacMillan (skip), Jack MacFadyen (3rd), Liam Barbrick (2nd), Davis Nicholson (lead), David MacFadyen (coach), from the Charlottetown Curling Complex
Schut advanced to the Monday championship round by winning two of the three modified triple knockout sections, against the Brayden Snow team from the Silver Fox in Summerside in the “A” Qualifier, and against MacMillan in the “C”, while MacMillan beat Schut in the “B” Qualifier. By winning 2 sections, Schut had a “double life” in the championship round and could have won with a win in either of the two games, while MacMillan would have needed to win both games.
During the closing ceremonies, it was announced that Cruz Pineau, third on the Brayden Snow team from Summerside was the winner of the Boy’s Sportsmanship Award, as voted on by all the male curlers in the event.
File photo: Cruz Pineau
The winning Mitchell Schut team, along with the repeating U18 Girl’s champions, the Lauren Ferguson rink, also from Cornwall, recently returned from representing PEI at the Canada Games in Red Deer Alberta, and will now be heading back to the Wild Rose province for the Canadian Under-18 Boys and Girls Curling Championships, at the Glen Allan Recreation Complex in Sherwood Park, Alta., adjacent to the city of Edmonton, from April 2-7.