Following Saturday play, two of the four champions have been determined for this weekend’s PEI curling championships, with Cornwall’s Shirley Berry team repeating as PEI Masters winner at the Silver Fox, while at their home Cornwall Curling Club, the Mitchell Schut foursome swept the PEI Junior Men’s event to repeat as champs.

Team Berry (L-R): Gloria Turner (2nd), Shirley Berry (skip), Sherren MacKinnon (3rd), Linda Fairhurst (lead)

Berry and her team lost their best of five series opener against Cornwall’s Sandy Hope squad 6-4, but reeled off three consecutive wins, by scores of 9-1, 6-5, and 9-2 to win the two-team event in four games. The winning Berry team includes third Sherren MacKinnon, second Gloria Turner and lead Linda Fairhurst. Other members of the Hope finalist team include  Nancy MacFadyen (3rd), Karen Hardy (2nd), and Arleen Harris (lead).

PEI Pepsi Junior Men’s champions Team Schut (L-R): Mitchell Schut (skip), Chase MacMillan (4th), Cruz Pineau (2nd), Liam Kelly (lead), Pat Quilty (coach)

Finalist team (L-R): Brayden Snow skip), Jack MacFadyen (3rd), Liam Barbrick (2nd), Davis Nicholson (lead), David MacFadyen (coach)

Jane DiCarlo (Curl PEI Secretary) & Jack MacFadyen (Sportsmanship Award Winner – Men’s Division), third on Team Snow

Jane DiCarlo (Curl PEI Secretary) & David MacFadyen (Asham Coach Award Winner – Men’s Division), coach of Team Snow

Team Schut won all three modified triple knockout sections, all against clubmate Brayden Snow, to win the junior men’s title without having to play the championship round. The final game on Saturday night was a see-saw battle that saw Schut grab a 5-2 lead after six ends, but Snow pulled ahead with a five-point seventh end. Schut regained the lead with a triple in eight, but Snow came back with a deuce in nine to lead 9-8. Schut brought it to an extra with a tying single in ten, and stole another single to win in the extra end. Team Schut now advances 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.

The PEI Masters Men’s section is down to two teams out of the six who started, with the Peter Rousseau rink from Cornwall, who won two modified triple knockout sections, having the advantage in the 2-game Sunday championship round at 10 am and, if needed, 2:30 pm against frequent Masters champ Lou Nowlan, as a win in either game will give Rousseau the title, while Nowlan needs to win both.

Meanwhile, there were three separate section winners in the four-team Pepsi Junior Women’s Divison, with Summerside’s Madalyn Easter rink winning the “A” 8-7 over Cornwall’s Ella Lenentine, who took the “B”, 6-5 over clubmate Rachel MacLean. MacLean, helped by a 5 point 9th end, then beat Lenentine 10-4 in the “C” qualifier.  Easter faces MacLean in the semi-final at 9 am Sunday, with the winner taking on Lenentine in the 2 pm final. Lenentine got the bye to the final by virtue of playing in the most qualifiers (all three), while MacLean played in two and Easter in one.