Two veteran skips quite familiar with each other will meet to decide the P.E.I. Tankard provincial men’s curling championship this weekend.
Blair Jay will skip his Silver Fox rink in this weekend’s Tankard provincial men’s curling championship at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. The Jay rink will meet the Eddie MacKenzie-skipped team in the best-of-five series that gets underway on Friday afternoon. – Jason Simmonds • The Guardian
Blair Jay from the Silver Fox in Summerside and Eddie MacKenzie, whose team calls the Crapaud Community Curling Club and Montague Curling Club home, are the only two rinks registered. They will begin a best-of-five series at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary on Friday afternoon.
“We go back a long way,” said Jay. “I’m sure he’s beaten me a heck of a lot more times than I’ve beaten him or teams we were on.”
Eddie MacKenzie intently follows a shot during the 2020 Tankard provincial men’s curling championship. MacKenzie and Blair Jay will play a best-of-five series in in this weekend’s Tankard, which is being held in O’Leary. Games are set for Friday and Saturday, as well as Sunday, if needed – Contributed
MacKenzie, a product of the junior program at The Fox, is looking forward to the challenge of competing against Jay.
“Blair is a tough competitor who throws a lot of rocks, so he’ll be ready to compete,” said MacKenzie.
Both skips have plenty of experience at the Tankard. Although this will be just his fifth time playing in the premier men’s event on P.E.I. since 2009 as he has been competing in senior competitions, Jay has curled in the Tankard approximately 30 times throughout his career.
Jay’s previous-best finish was third in 1975 and 2014.
“I have always enjoyed the Tankard,” said Jay, who is 69. “The Tankard is completely different than anything else, that’s for sure.
“You are a little more focused and pay more attention to things.”
MacKenzie, 48, has skipped five Tankard champions – 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018. He also won the provincial title as third stone with Mike Gaudet-skipped rinks in 1994 and 2012.
The winning rink will enter a bubble at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men’s curling championship in Calgary, March 6-14.
Click for the full story by Jason Simmonds in today’s Journal Pioneer