The PEI Masters Men’s Curling Championship, for curlers age 60 and over, will have to find room for yet another Lou Nowlan entry on the trophy, as he has now won his 16th Masters title, playing either the third or skip position. Nowlan and his host Silver Fox team of third David MacFadyen, 2nd Earle Proude, and lead Alan Montgomery,  lost two of their first three games in the event but then pulled out five wins in a row, including the two championship games, against Cornwall’s Peter Rousseau rink, who won their first five games, but lost their last three, all to Nowlan. Other members of the Rousseau squad were third John Mullin, second Garth Cudmore, and lead Edgar Coffin.

PEI Masters Men’s champs (L-R): Lou Nowlan, David MacFadyen, Earle Proude, Alan Montgomery

Cornwall’s Shirley Berry rink won the Masters Women’s Division on Saturday (see previous story).

Junior Women’s champs (L-R): Rachel MacLean (skip), Sydney Howatt (3rd), Lexie Murray (second), Abby Barker (lead), David Murphy (coach)

Junior Women’s Finalist Team (L-R): Ella Lenentine (skip), Makiya Noonan, Kacey GAuthier, Erika Pater, coach Robbie Lenentine

Meanwhile,  Cornwall’s Rachel MacLean, who skipped the finalist team last year, and her team won the PEI Pepsi Junior Women’s Championship at her host Cornwall Curling Club, with an 11-4 semi-final win over the Madalyn Easter rink from the Silver Fox, and an 11-7 victory in the final over clubmate Ella Lenentine and her team. Cornwall’s Mitchell Schut rink went undefeated to win the Junior Men’s division, which wrapped up on Saturday.

Curl PEI Vice President Ryan Giddens was on hand during the closing ceremonies to present the  Asham  Coaching  Award for junior women’s team coaches to  David Murphy,  coach of the  MacLean rink,  and the junior women’s Sportsmanship award,  to Lexie Murray,  second on  Team  MacLean, who now advance to the 2022 New Holland Canadian Under-21 Curling Championships, Operated by Curling Canada, Mar. 25-Apr. 1, 2022 at the Stratford Rotary Complex in Stratford, Ont.

David Murphy (left), Asham Coaching award winner for junior women’s teams, with Curl PEI VP Ryan Giddens

Lexie Murray (left), Sportsmanship award winner for junior women’s teams, with Curl PEI VP Ryan Giddens

(by Dave Stewart)

Charlottetown’s Brett Gallant says curling in the Olympic Games is unlike anything he has ever experienced, even if it didn’t end the way his team wanted it to.

Gallant and the Brad Gushue-skipped Canadian team returned to St. John’s, N.L., from Beijing, China, on Feb. 20 with bronze medals in hand.

“Obviously, there was some disappointment because we did have our sights set on being in that gold-medal game, but I think we can look back on it as a really great experience,’’ said Gallant, referring to the 5-3 loss to Sweden, the eventual gold-medal winner, in the semifinal on Feb. 17.

“But, coming home with a medal for Canada means a lot to us. We didn’t have our best stuff over there.’’

Charlottetown’s Brett Gallant, who throws second stones for the Brad Gushue curling team, displays his bronze medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. – Contributed

Gushue was down one with his final shot in the semifinal and attempted a runback double for the win instead of a draw to send it to an extra end.

Gushue just missed, allowing Sweden’s Niklas Edin a steal and the win.

Gallant said the team is going to rest for a few days before preparations begin for the Brier. The Gushue rink was named as one of three wild-card entries.

Gallant admitted getting psyched up for the Canadian championship is going to be challenging.

“I’ll be honest, it is definitely going to be difficult,’’ Gallant said. “But, I think we’ve shown in the past we can get up for stuff like that. Will it be easy? No.’’

Click to read the full story at SaltWire Media: https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/news/pei-curler-brett-gallant-reflects-on-olympic-heartbreak-and-bronze-medal-100698430/

PEI curling championship play resumed on Thursday with two events, the PEI Masters Curling Championships for curlers age 60 and over, at the Silver Fox in Summerside, and the Pepsi Juniors in Cornwall. The Masters games are eight ends, while the Juniors play ten.

In the six-team Masters men’s division, frequent men’s winner Lou Nowlan from the host club, along with Peter Rousseau and his Cornwall team, have advanced to the first of three qualifying games for the championship round of the modified triple knockout draw, with Rousseau doubling Clair Sweet from the Maple Leaf club in O’Leary 8-4 in the opening draw, and beating Dale Cannon and his Summerside team 9-5 in the second draw. Defending champ Bill Hope from Cornwall won his opener 7-2 over Daryl MacDonald and his rink from the Western Comunity Curling Club in Alberton, but was defeated 9-3 in six ends by Nowlan in his second game. The “A” qualifier between Nowlan and Rousseau goes at 10 am Friday.

Full schedule and live scoring at: https://peicurling.com/scoreboard/#!/competitions/7373

The two Masters women’s teams are skipped by Cornwall’s Shirley Berry and Sandy Hope, and play the first game in their best of five series at 10 am Friday. 

Mitchell Schut

The Pepsi Juniors in Cornwall features four junior men’s teams and an equal number of Junior Women’s rinks, and played their opening draw on Thursday afternoon. In Junior Men’s action, defending champ Mitchell Schut and his Cornwall squad beat their clubmates the Isaiah Dalton foursome by a 14-2 score in eight ends, helped out by a five-point end and a stolen triple. 

Jack MacFadyen from Team Snow

Team Snow

Cornwall’s Brayden Snow rink beat the Brock Rochford squad from the Fox by an 11-5 score, also aided by a triple-steal.

Team Ella Lenentine

In the Junior Women’s section, the Ella Lenentine rink from Cornwall opened with an 8-4 doubling of clubmate Rachel MacLean and her team, with Lenentine stealing a deuce in the first end, then picking up three more, while keeping MacLean to singles.

Team Easter

Juniors play resumes on Friday at 9 am, with Snow taking on Schut in the first of three junior men’s qualifiers, and Easter facing Lenentine in the first of three junior women’s qualifying games for the champion round. The “B” semi-finals follow at 2 pm, with the “B” qualifying games going at 9 am Saturday.

Full schedule and live scoring at:

https://peicurling.com/scoreboard/#!/competitions/7379/

Spectators are not permitted at either event due to COVID restrictions.

The 2022 PEI Masters Curling Championships, with men’s and women’s divisions for curlers age 60 and over, were originally scheduled for January at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, and are now set for the Silver Fox in Summerside, from February 24-27, with the six men’s teams playing a modified triple-knockout format with a two-game championship round, while the two women’s rinks will play a best-of-five series.

Last year’s champions, the Bill Hope and Shirley Berry rinks from Cornwall, are both back looking to defend their titles.

Live, end by end results from the PEI Masters will be available at: https://peicurling.com/scoreboard/#!/competitions/7373

The Canadian Masters Curling Championships are not being held this season.

Here is the PEI Masters event draw:

Team Rosters:

(W=Women’s team, M=Men’s team, number = throwing order, S designates the skip):

The PEI Pepsi Juniors Provincial Under 21 Curling Championships are set for the Cornwall Curling Club from February 24-27, with four junior men’s teams and an equal number of junior women’s rinks competing. The winning junior men’s and women’s teams will advance to the 2022 New Holland Canadian Under-21 Curling Championships, Operated by Curling Canada, Mar. 25-Apr. 1, 2022 at the Stratford Rotary Complex in Stratford, Ont. 

Defending Junior Men’s champs, the Mitchell Schut rink from the host club, are back looking to defend their title, while the defending Junior Women’s skip, Katie Shaw, is curling in Sudbury Ontario this season. Lexie Murray and coach David Murphy from last season’s winning team have joined Cornwall’s Rachel MacLean squad, who were the finalist team last season.

Live, end by end results from the PEI championships will be available at:
https://peicurling.com/scoreboard/#!/competitions/7379

Spectators are not permitted at this event.

Here is the Schedule and modified-triple knockout Draw with a 2-game championship round (not required if a team wins all three sections).
Here are the teams entered (M designates a Junior Men’s team, W a Junior Women’s).

Team Rosters (Number = throwing order, S=skip)

(Latest Roster Updates at: https://pe.curling.io/en/events/11399-2022-pei-pepsi-juniors-curling-ch-ships/teams)

By: Brad Gushue

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind. I’m so proud of the team for what we’ve accomplished. An Olympic bronze medal! 

Yesterday’s semifinal loss was probably one of the most difficult I’ve had in a while, but we all needed to have a short-term memory, park it and focus on our game ahead. And we did it with a big win against the United States!

I’m so proud of our guys. For Mark and myself, it’s been a long 16-year journey from the last time we were at the Olympics. It wasn’t the medal we came to Beijing for, but this one means just as much. There’s only a handful of people who can say they’ve won an Olympic medal, and we’ve been able to do it twice. The two of us have been through so much together. From our humble roots at juniors to entering the men’s game and representing our province of Newfoundland & Labrador with pride. We’re like brothers, and we’d do anything for each other. I can’t even put into words what it means to be at the Olympics with him again. Through thick and thin, we’ve always had each other’s backs. 

2022 Olympic bronze-medallists Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker. (Photo, Curling Canada/Stephen Fisher)

For Brett and Geoff, well, I couldn’t be any more proud of them. When they first joined our team, it was with the long-term goal of being here, at this moment, competing for a medal at the Olympics. About 10 years ago they joined us, and they were just young guys at the time. They were pretty fresh out of juniors and still learning all of the ins and outs of curling at a high level in men’s and in life. Look at them now. Geoff is married and has a kid, and Brett will be married this summer. So much has changed since this journey began, and we’ve cherished it all. I couldn’t ask for a better front end, and I’m so proud of what they’ve accomplished this week. They’re going to remember this experience for the rest of their lives.

We’ve had an incredible support team around us all week long. There’s coach Jules, who is without question one of the greatest curling coaches of all time. It’s no coincidence that you’ve seen him part of teams – both Kevin Martin’s and myself – that have found success at so many Briers and international events, including the Olympics. For him to be here with us in Beijing at 77 years old is nothing short of incredible. Jeff Thomas has been part of our crew for years and there’s no one else I trust more in that support role. He’s been critical in our success in team practices and there isn’t a more technically-sound guy out there.

And then there’s Marc Kennedy. Even though we’re rivals when he curls with Brad Jacobs, he did not hesitate at the chance to join us this week as our alternate and contribute to our team. Marc really gets it. He gets where curling is going and he can see the big picture. Even though he wasn’t here with his team, he wanted to do everything to make sure Canada came home with a medal with this.

Jeff Stoughton and Scott Pfeifer are also here behind the scenes as the national coach and team leader. They’ve both been really solid in helping us with everything we need off the ice. Whether that’s getting us to where we needed to go, cracking a joke at the right time, or keeping us occupied between games (Scott’s VR system definitely helped with that!), they’ve been instrumental. 

We’ve battled through so much adversity this week and even though we didn’t play our best at time, we came through when it mattered most. It might not have been the medal Canada hoped for. But I hope you’re proud of us!

Click to read at Curling Canada: https://www.curling.ca/blog/2022/02/18/beijing-2022-blog-29/