It was a case of déjà vu for the Kim Dolan and Philip Gorveatt rinks this past weekend.
Both teams went undefeated in the modified-triple-knockout format en route to repeating as the P.E.I. senior curling champions for curlers aged 50 and over at the Silver Fox in Summerside.
“We had to prepare ourselves, and luckily things went our way,” said Gorveatt, who went undefeated for the second year in a row. “We were obviously excited to win; it’s always nice to win.”
Dolan said she was “delighted” to have the opportunity to play for a provincial championship during COVID-19 after skipping her team to a perfect record of 4-0 (won-lost).
“To add another title was quite awesome,” added Dolan, who played for P.E.I. in 10 Canadian women’s curling championships and attended numerous other Scotties Tournament of Hearts as an alternate and coach.
The Dolan and Gorveatt rinks have earned the right to represent P.E.I. at the Canadian senior curling championships in December. However, it will depend on COVID-19 if the nationals will go ahead.
Short-staffed rink
The Kim Dolan rink from the Cornwall Curling Club went undefeated en route to winning the P.E.I. senior women’s curling championship. Team members are, from left: Dolan, third Susan McInnis and lead Julie Scales. – Contributed
The Dolan rink, which curls out of the Cornwall Curling Club, played with three players as second Kathy O’Rourke is attending the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary. O’Rourke is the alternate on Team P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt rink.
“We consider (O’Rourke) a very influential teammate and a great person, so we wanted to stick with playing three and not bring someone else into our mix,” said Dolan, a Charlottetown resident.
Team Dolan defeated clubmate Shirley Berry 11-4, Montague’s June Moyaert 7-4, Cornwall’s Sandy Hope 10-2 and a title-clinching 7-4 win over Berry on Saturday night.
Faced with having to play with only one sweeper was not much of an adjustment for Team Dolan. The skip noted they had played with only one sweeper for most of the season due to COVID-19.
Two years in a row
The Gorveatt-skipped rink from the Montague Curling Club finished with an overall record of 6-0 and defeated the John Likely rink from Cornwall in all three section finals. Those scores were 9-3, 6-4 and 8-1.
“We hadn’t played a lot of games (before the provincials), but we practiced quite a bit,” said Gorveatt, who lives in Pownal. “We lost our curling club in Charlottetown (due to ice plant issues in the fall), so it’s been a scramble.
Gorveatt credited strong team chemistry for the rink’s success and said the team members are comfortable playing with each other.
Likely’s teammates were third Peter Gallant, second Mark O’Rourke and lead Mark Butler.