The 2024 PEI Masters Curling Championships begin Thursday, January 18th at the Montague Curling Club. Six men’s teams and three women’s teams from across the province will compete to be crowned the Island’s top curlers over the age of 60.
On the men’s side, skip Peter Rousseau from the Cornwall Curling Club returns to defend his 2023 PEI Masters title, along with teammates John Mullin (Second) and Phillip McInnis (Lead) on the front end. New to the team at Third stone and bolstering the Rousseau rink’s hopes for back-to-back championships is 11-time Brier participant and PEI Curling Hall of Fame member Mark O’Rourke.
The Summerside Curling Club rink skipped by PEI Curling Hall of Fame member Lou Nowlan, and including Blair Jay (Third), Dave MacFadyen (Second) and Alan Montgomery (Lead) may present the top obstacle to a Rousseau repeat. In his long and distinguished career, Nowlan has captured an astonishing 16 PEI Masters championships, with the most recent title coming in 2022.
Rounding out the men’s field are the Peter Murdoch rink from Cornwall, as well as a trio of teams from the host Montague Curling Club, skipped by Donald Clarey, Arnold Nabuurs and PEI Curling Hall of Famer Blair Weeks.
Skip Shirley Berry from the Cornwall Curling Club is looking to capture a fourth consecutive and seventh overall) PEI Masters championship this weekend. Karen Currie (Third) and Gloria Turner (Second) are back again with Team Berry, joined by newcomer Sandra Sobey at Lead. Rinks skipped by hometown favourite Darlene London of Montague and Cornwall’s Debbie Rhodenhizer (winner of five consecutive PEI Masters titles from 2016 to 2020 as Second stone for Sandy Hope) are looking to dethrone the Berry foursome as champions.
The men’s event will follow a modified triple-knockout format, while the women’s event consists of a double round-robin. Both events are slated to wrap up by Sunday, January 21st.
Curling fans across the Island and around the world can find boxscores, team rosters and event updates HERE on the Curl PEI website.