SUMMERSIDE – Three was a lucky number this week for skip Tyler Smith and his young Crapaud Curling Club men’s team.
Smith defeated clubmate Jamie Newson 8-3 Saturday night to claim his third consecutive P.E.I. Tankard men’s curling championship.
Smith broke open a tight 1-1 game with three points in the fourth end. After the teams exchanged single points over the next three ends, Smith clinched the outcome with another three in the eighth to bring out the handshakes from the Newson team.
Smith finished the modified triple knockout event with a perfect 6-0 record, winning the A final over Summerside’s Darren Higgins, the B final over Crapaud’s Tyler Harris and then the C final over Newson.
Edward White, Christopher Gallant, Adam Cocks, Tyler Smith
The Smith team included mate Adam Cocks of Halifax, Christopher Gallant at second stone and lead Edward White. Gallant, who replaced Alex MacFadyen at second, is the younger brother of Brett Gallant, who won a Brier with Brad Gushue in 2017 out of St. John’s, NL. and now is in his second year with the Brandon Bottcher rink in Calgary.
Seven teams started play Thursday at the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex. Smith entered the event as the heavy favourite after accumulating a dominating 10.125 CTRS points this season.
The Smith rink will represent P.E.I. at the 2024 Montana’s Brier, Canada’s national men’s curling championship, March 1 to 10 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Sask.
In 2021, Smith, then just 22, moved up to skip P.E.I. from the third position for a game as skip Eddie MacKenzie was on the bench as the team’s alternate.
Smith was named P.E.I.’s Brier representative in 2022 when he was selected based on points after the provincial playoffs were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Last year, the Smith rink defeated Higgins 9-5 in the final to win the Tankard title at his home Crapaud club, where Suzanne Birt claimed the ladies Scotties crown.
Photos from the event, taken by Mike Schut, can be viewed HERE.