The Ferguson-Logan Montague Funeral Home PEI Stick Curling Championship wrapped up Thursday afternoon at the Cornwall Curling Club with the Clair Sweet and Bob Matheson team from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary winning the Open Division (any combination of male and/or female curlers), while the host club duo of Gloria Clarke and Ruth Stavert went undefeated to capture their 8th Women’s Division title out of the eleven that have been held to-date,
This year’s event attracted 24 teams from 5 curling clubs, the largest field ever for a PEI stick curling championship, with 18 Open division and six Women’s division teams signed up, playing a pooled round-robin competition with a championship round. Stick curling is a two-person per team event with six-end games.
The top four Open Division teams along with the top two Women’s division duos from this event earned the right to advance to the Maritime Stick Curling Championships at the Wolfville Curling Club March 12 to 14, 2021. The Canadian championships are cancelled this year.
Clair Sweet (left), and Bob Matheson from the Maple Leaf Curling Club, 2021 PEI Stick Open Division winners
Alva Clarey (left) and John Dunsford from the Cornwall Curling Club, PEI Stick Open Division Finalists
Sweet and Matheson finished with a 5-1 win-loss record, beating Cornwall’s duo of Alva Clarey and John Dunsford in the final by a 5-2 score. Clarey/Dunsford finished with a 4-2 record. The other semi-finalists were Montague’s Billy Power/Howard Kerwin pair, who lost 5-3 to Sweet/Matheson, and Alvin Hackett and Victor Hogan from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, who were tied 4-all with Clarey/Dunsford after four ends of their six-end contest, but lost 9-2 after Clarey and Dunsford followed a 5-ender with a stolen deuce.
Women’s Division winners Ruth Stavert (left) and Gloria Clarke from the Cornwall Curling Club
Women’s Division Finalists Carolyn Crockett (left) and Janette Fraser from Cornwall
In the Women’s Division final, Cornwall’s Janette Fraser and Carolyn Crockett picked up a deuce in the first end, but the Clarke/Stavert twosome quickly recovered with scores of 4, 2, and 4 points to bring the game to a speedy conclusion with a 10-2 score after 4 ends. Crockett/Fraser edged Cornwall clubmates Etta Reid and Elaine Hughes 6-2 in the semi-final. Reid/Hughes are the only team besides Clarke/Stavert ever to have won the women’s event, winning it in 2014, 2018, and 2019.
Clarke/Stavert scored a rare six-ender (the stick curling equivalent of an eight-ender in traditional curling) in the first end of a round-robin game in the event, going on to win the game 12-1. Photo credit: Lori Fitzpatrick