On Friday afternoon at the Montague Curling Club, defending PEI Masters (age 60+) men’s champ Lou Nowlan and his team from the Silver Fox got off to a good start toward putting his name on the PEI Masters Champions trophy for the 16th time, by winning the first of three men’s Modified Triple Knockout draws and a spot in the PEI Masters Championship Round with a 9-4 win over Cornwall’s Bill Hope foursome.
Lou Nowlan (in blue) delivers a rock, while Earle Proude sweeps, and Alan Montgomery keeps an eye on the line in the “A” Qualifier Game Friday afternoon
The game was actually extremely close, tied up going into the seventh end, but a steal of five points by Team Nowlan in that end gave him the lead and Hope was unable to recover.
Shirley Berry watches her rock in “A” Qualifier action Friday afternoon
The Shirley Berry squad from Cornwall won the women’s “A” Qualifier 7-3 over five-time defending women’s champ and Cornwall clubmate Sandy Hope. Berry stole a deuce and two singles to lead 4=0 after three. Hope came back with a single and a deuce to narrow the gap to 4-3 after 5, but Berry did the same, leading 7-3 coming home and ran Hope out of rocks in the eighth.
In the opening draw, Nowlan beat Clair Sweet and his team from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary 8-1 while Hope recorded two 4-enders in a 12-4 win over clubmate Paul Arsenault in men’s play, and Berry beat Montague’s Bev Harding and her host club team 8-5, aided by a 5 point 5th end.
Play resumes Saturday with the “B” semi-finals at 9:30 am and the “B” Qualifiers at 2 pm. The “C” division games go Sunday at the same times, while the two-game championship round goes in the same time slots on Monday
Under the modified triple knockout format, a team can win more than one section, If a team wins all three sections, they will be declared champions without playing the championship round. A two-section winner will have a “double life” in the championship round, and win the event if they take either section, while their opponent, the winner of the other section, would have to win both.
The men’s and women’s winning teams, or finalist teams if they are unable to attend, earn the right to compete in the 2021 Canadian Masters Curling Championships, November 17-21, 2021 at the Pembina Curling Club in Winnipeg, Man.
Live end-by-end results from the PEI Masters are available at PEICurling.com/scoreboard