Application Deadline is May 7, 2020.

For the past 7 years, the Sandra Schmirler Foundation has awarded $5,000 Scholarships to 6 deserving junior curlers. We are proud to announce that the 2020 Spirit of Sandra Scholarship application information is now available on our website.

Registration is now open for the annual Mardi Gras Funspiel, sponsored by Provincial Auto Parts and the Summerside Rotary Club, which takes place Thursday February 27 to Saturday February 29 at the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex in Summerside. To register, please email [email protected]

This year’s PEI Masters (age 60+) Curling Championship Men’s and Women’s winners and finalists are a repeat of last year’s.

PEI Masters Women’s Winners (L-R): Sandy Hope, Shelley Ebbett, Debbie Rhodenhizer, Arleen Harris

PEI Masters Women’s Finalist Team (L-R) Pat Aylward (Chairperson of the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex), Shirley Berry, Sherren MacKinnon, Gloria Turner, Linda Fairhurst,  Anson Carmody (Vice President of Curl PEI)

Last year’s women’s winners, the Sandy Hope team from Cornwall, needed only the first of two scheduled championship round games, on Monday afternoon, to repeat as champions, as they won their second section, the “C”, Monday morning, 8-3 over their clubmates and last year’s finalist rink, the Shirley Berry squad (who won the “A” section), and had a “double life” in the championship round, winning the title if they took either game, while Berry and her team would have had to win both. As it turned out, Hope only needed the first game, winning 6-4, with single steals in the third and sixth ends making the difference. The winning Hope team includes third Shelley Ebbett, second stone Debbie Rhodenhizer, and lead Arleen Harris, while Sherren MacKinnon, Linda Fairhurst, and Gloria Turner complete the Berry foursome.

Earlier on Monday, it took an extra end, but the defending champion Lou Nowlan men’s team from the host Silver Fox Curling Club in Summerside ran the Masters table again this year, going undefeated with a 5-0 record, and capturing heir third modified triple knockout section to repeat as men’s champions without having to play the championship round. Nowlan and his team of third stone David MacFadyen, second Earle Proude, and lead Alan Montgomery, played the Bill Hope rink from Cornwall in all three section finals, recovering from a 5-3 deficit after seven ends in the Monday morning “C” final with a tying eighth-end deuce, and a single-steal in the extra end for a 6-5 final score. Other members of the finalist Hope rink are third Peter Murdoch, second stone David Murphy, and lead Dario Zannier.

Winning men’s team (L-R): Mary MacKay (President, Silver Fox Curling Club), Lou Nowlan, David MacFadyen, Earle Proude, Alan Montgomery, Andrew Robinson (Past President, Curl PEI)

Finalist Men’s Team (L-R): Mary MacKay (President, Silver Fox), Bill Hope, Peter Murdoch, David Murphy, Dario Zannier, Andrew Robinson (Past President, Curl PEI)

Nowlan and Proude have now been on the winning men’s team at this event for ten years in a row, including four years with skip Ted MacFadyen and four with Mel Bernard as skip. Montgomery has picked up his seventh consecutive Master’s men’s title. Nowlan also won this event in the skip position five times in a row, from 2003 to 2007, for a grand total of 15 Masters wins.

Both the winning Nowlan and Sandy Hope and finalist Bill Hope and Shirley Berry teams will compete against their peers from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia at the Maritime Masters, here on PEI at the Cornwall Curling Club from March 12-14 2020, while the winning teams, or the finalist teams if they are unable to attend, also earn the right to compete in the 2020 Canadian Masters Curling Championships, March 30-April 5, 2020 at the Riverside Country Club in Rothesay, and the Thistle St.-Andrews Curling Club in Saint John New Brunswick.

Complete results from the PEI Masters are available at PEICurling.com/scoreboard

Five men’s and three women’s teams took part in the PEI Masters event this year.

It took an extra end, but the defending champion Lou Nowlan men’s team from the host Silver Fox Curling Club in Summerside has captured all three modified triple knockout sections at the PEI Masters Curling Championships, for curlers age 60 and over, and has repeated as men’s champions without having to play the two-game championship round. Nowlan and his team of third stone David MacFadyen, second Earle Proude, and lead Alan Montgomery, played the Bill Hope rink from Cornwall in all three section finals, recovering from a 5-3 deficit after seven ends in the Monday morning “C” final with a tying eighth-end deuce, and a single-steal in the extra end for a 6-5 final score. Other members of the finalist Hope rink are third Peter Murdoch, second stone David Murphy, and lead Dario Zannier.

Winning men’s team (L-R): Mary MacKay (President, Silver Fox Curling Club), Lou Nowlan, David MacFadyen, Earle Proude, Alan Montgomery, Andrew Robinson (Past President, Curl PEI)

Finalist Men’s Team (L-R): Mary MacKay (President, Silver Fox), Bill Hope, Peter Murdoch, David Murphy, Dario Zannier, Andrew Robinson (Past President, Curl PEI)

Last year’s women’s winners, the Sandy Hope team from Cornwall, need only one win out of the two championship round games, at 2:30 this afternoon and at 10 am Tuesday, to repeat as champions, as they won their second section, the “C”, this morning, 8-3 over their clubmates and last year’s finalist rink, the Shirley Berry squad, and will have a “double life” in the championship round, winning the title if they take either game, while Berry and her team would have to win both.

Both the winning Nowlan and finalist Hope men’s teams and the women’s winner and finalist will compete against their peers from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia at the Maritime Masters, here on PEI at the Cornwall Curling Club from March 12-14 2020, while the men’s and women’s winning teams, or the finalist teams if they are unable to attend, also earn the right to compete in the 2020 Canadian Masters Curling Championships, March 30-April 5, 2020 at the Riverside Country Club in Rothesay, and the Thistle St.-Andrews Curling Club in Saint John New Brunswick.

Live end-by-end results from the PEI Masters are available at PEICurling.com/scoreboard

The defending champion Lou Nowlan men’s team from the host Silver Fox Curling Club in Summerside has captured two of the three modified triple knockout sections at the PEI Masters Curling Championships, for curlers age 60 and over, and needs just one win out of their next three games, the “C” final at 10 am Monday, or one of the two championship round games, at 2:30 Monday and 10 am Tuesday, for a repeat men’s title, while their opponent, the Bill Hope foursome from Cornwall, would have to win all three.

Last year’s women’s winners, the Sandy Hope team, and finalist rink, the Shirley Berry squad, both from Cornwall, have won the “B” and “A” sections respectively, and are squaring off in the “C” at 10 am Monday. The winner of the “C” will have a “double life” in the women’s championship round, winning the title if they take either game, while their opponent would have to win both.

Nowlan hits for the win

In the Sunday morning “B” finals, a picked rock resulted in Bill Hope giving up three in the second end, the only end in which either team picked up more than a single, and Nowlan hit out Hope’s shot stone in the final end for a 5-4 win.

Sandy Hope rink

A four-ender in the second and a triple in the seventh gave the Sandy Hope rink a 9-5 lead coming home without hammer, and they kept the house clean, running the Berry team out of rocks in the final end.

Jay (left) and Sweet

Summerside’s Blair Jay staved off elimination in the other 10 am game, building up a 7-0 lead in four ends, but his opponent, Clair Sweet from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary came back, but ended up one point short of a tie, with a final score of 8-7.

Nowlan and Sandy Hope both advanced automatically to the 10 am Monday “C” final by virtue of their “B” section win. Bill Hope punched his “C” ticket with an 8-2 “C” semi-final win on Sunday afternoon, over Jay in six ends, while Berry advanced with a 12-1 elimination of the host club’s Sheila Compton in another abbreviated contest.

Both the winning and finalist men’s and women’s teams will compete against their peers from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia at the Maritime Masters, here on PEI at the Cornwall Curling Club from March 12-14 2020, while the men’s and women’s winning teams, or the finalist teams if they are unable to attend, also earn the right to compete in the 2020 Canadian Masters Curling Championships, March 30-April 5, 2020 at the Riverside Country Club in Rothesay, and the Thistle St.-Andrews Curling Club in Saint John New Brunswick.

Live end-by-end results from the PEI Masters are available at PEICurling.com/scoreboard

MANITOBA’S BURGESS CLAIMS THIRD WOMEN’S GOLD MEDAL AT NEW HOLLAND CANADIAN JUNIORS

TOWNSHIP OF LANGLEY, B.C. — The smile couldn’t be wiped from Karlee Burgess’s face after making history on Sunday morning at the George Preston Recreation Centre.

The 21-year-old third for Mackenzie Zacharias’s Manitoba team became the first player ever to win three women’s gold medals at the New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships; she’d won two previously with Nova Scotia (2016, skipped by Mary Fay; 2018, skipped by Kaitlyn Jones), and a 10-3 win Sunday over Alberta’s Abby Marks gave her an unprecedented third.

2020 New Holland Canadian Junior Women’s Curling champions, from left, skip Mackenzie Zacharias, coach Sheldon Zacharias, third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias, lead/vice-skip Lauren Lenentine. (Photo, Curling Canada/Michael Burns)

“This could be one of the best Canadians I’ve won, too,” said Burgess, who was joined by Zacharias, second Emily Zacharias, lead/vice-skip Lauren Lenentine and coach Sheldon Zacharias in a wild on-ice celebration. “It’s pretty special; I moved halfway across Canada to play with these girls and coming out with a win here is pretty exciting. I can’t believe it actually.”

Burgess left her Nova Scotia home this past summer to move to Manitoba, to pursue her education and be closer to her boyfriend Jacques Gauthier, who skipped Manitoba #2 to victory in the men’s gold-medal game later on Sunday; the two met while playing at the 2017 Canadian Juniors.

“I’ve been super lucky to have teammates who put in the work and want to win,” said Burgess, who also has a Youth Olympics gold medal to her credit (2016, playing with Fay, Tyler Tardi and Sterling Middleton) along with two Canadian Juniors bronze medals (2014, 2019). “I’ve just been really fortunate to have girls beside me who have the same work ethic as I do. To be right here, right now, I can’t say thank you enough to the girls I’ve curled with this year.”

It was a tight game through seven ends as the Alberta team, featuring two members of the 2019 Canadian champs skipped by Selena Sturmay (Marks and second Paige Papley played third and lead respectively last year), hung tough against a favoured Manitoba team that entered the gold-medal game with 10 straight wins.

But in the eighth, Manitoba delivered the crushing blow — a precise angle takeout to drive an Alberta stone through a hole and score four to put Manitoba into an insurmountable 8-3 lead

“It hasn’t sunk in completely yet; it’ll probably take a couple days,” marvelled Mackenzie Zacharias, 20, whose team hails from Altona. “I still can’t believe that my name is going to be on the back of a Canadian jacket.  That’s been my dream forever, and I can’t believe it’s really coming true.”

The silver-medal Alberta team was rounded out by vice-skip Catherine Clifford, lead Jamie Scott and coach Doug Marks.

It was Manitoba’s 10th Canadian junior women’s championship, matching Alberta’s total, which is one back of leading Saskatchewan with 11, and Manitoba’s first women’s gold since Kaitlyn Lawes won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009.

“There are so many amazing curlers in Manitoba, and to be able to win this Canadian championship and prove that we’re also some of the best in Manitoba as well is just really amazing,” said Zacharias.

With the win, the team will trade Manitoba jackets for Canadian jackets that will be worn at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships, beginning Feb. 15 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

“Wow — I tried not to think about it too much before this game because I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but it’s just incredible,” said Zacharias. “I still don’t believe that it’s actually happening. It feels incredible that we’re going to be able to go to Russia and represent Canada.”

Nova Scotian’s Taylour Stevens, backed up by vice-skip Lindsey Burgess (Karlee’s cousin), second Kate Callaghan, lead Cate Fitzgerald and coach Mary Mattatall, will go home with a bronze medal.

The men’s final at 2 p.m. PST (TSN) featured Manitoba #2, skipped by Gauthier, taking on Newfoundland/Labrador’s Daniel Bruce, and was also won by Manitoba.

Click to read this story at Curling Canada

A Prince Edward Islander will represent Canada at the world junior curling championships in Russia.
Lauren Lenentine, who plays the lead position, is a member of the Mackenzie Zacharias rink from Manitoba that won the 2020 New Holland Canadian junior women’s championship on Sunday afternoon,

(Curling Canada photo)

The Manitoba rink, which entered the championship game undefeated, defeated the Abby Marks rink from Alberta 10-3 in the championship.

Click for full story in the Journal Pioneer

The undefeated Mackenzie Zacharias team from Manitoba, with Cornwall Curling Club member Lauren Lenentine holding the broom for the skip’s rocks, is leading 3-2 over Team Alberta after 5 ends of play in the final of  the New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Langley BC.

Lauren Lenentine

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