PEI Curling Hall of Fame to induct four curlers on Tues. Oct. 22nd in Stratford

The Prince Edward Island Curling Hall of Fame and Museum is set to host its sixteenth induction ceremony on Tuesday, October 22nd 2024 in the Southport Room at the Stratford Town Hall, 234 Shakespeare Drive.

This year’s inductees, all in the “Curler” category, will be:
 
Stratford’s Rebecca Jean (MacPhee) MacDonald, former Canadian Mixed, PEI Mixed, PEI Women’s and PEI Junior Women’s champion,

Tricia MacGregor, who won PEI championships at the Junior Women’s, Mixed, Women’s and Senior Women’s categories,

Charlottetown  curler Norm MacNeill, who won a number of PEI Men’s and Senior Men’s titles,

and

PEI Mixed, Women’s and Junior Women’s champ Angela (Roberts) Smith.
 
“Recognizing the accomplishments of curlers and builders who have dedicated their time and energy to the sport of curling is an important component of our curling history”, says Jerry Muzika, Co-chair of the PEI Curling Hall of Fame and Museum.  He invites everyone to come out and honour the inductees.
The main objectives of the Curling Hall of Fame and Museum are to recognize, honour and pay tribute to individuals or teams on the basis of playing ability, as an amateur or a professional (“Curler” category), and to individuals who have given distinguished service and have made major contributions to the development of curling on Prince Edward Island (“Builder” category).
The event, at the Stratford Town Hall, with Master of Ceremonies Al Ledgerwood, gets underway at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $10.00 per person and will be available at the door. This year’s ceremony is sponsored by Peter and Karen MacDonald, along with Peake & McInnis Ltd. Insurance Brokers, Beaton’s Wholesale Dry Goods Ltd., Phillips Agri Services, the Town of Stratford, and Consolidated Credit Union Ltd., Summerside.

 

Inductees:

Rebecca Jean (MacPhee) MacDonald

Stratford’s Rebecca Jean (MacPhee) MacDonald started curling in the 1987/88 season at the Charlottetown Curling Club. She won the PEI Pepsi Juniors in 1991, on the team of  Lynn Callaghan, Rebecca Jean MacPhee, Susie Roberts, and LouAnn Henry.  At the Canadian Juniors, they finished round robin play with a 4-7 win-loss record. The same team was also the PEI Canada Games team representatives the same year.

She would skip win the provincial junior championship team, with members Susie Roberts, Pam Sweetapple, and LouAnn Henry in 1992, with a 7–4 round robin record at the nationals, securing a tiebreaker, but losing it to Ontario.

Rebecca Jean moved up to skip in the provincial women’s championships, advancing to her first national women’s in 1995. The team included veteran skip Kim Dolan at third stone, along with Marion MacAulay at second and LouAnn Henry at lead, finishing round robin play at the nationals in fourth place with an 8-3 record, but losing the Page 3-4 playoff game to Alberta. Rebecca Jean won the provincials again in 1997 and 1999, finishing the nationals with 5-6 and 6-5 records, respectively. In ’99. Kathy O’Rourke replaced MacAulay at second.

In 2003, Rebecca Jean would join up with 2001 world junior champion Suzanne Gaudet as her third, as well as with her sister Robyn MacPhee at second stone, along with lead Susan McInnis. The team defeated the Kathy O’Rourke rink in the provincials, and finished first in the round robin with a 10–1 record at the nationals. They lost the 1-2 Page playoff game to Team Canada’s Colleen Jones, and then lost to Newfoundland’s Cathy Cunningham, to finish third.

In 2004 the team split into two, with Rebecca Jean and Robyn, along with Shelley Muzika and Karen Hardy on one team, and Gaudet and her new team, who defeated Rebecca Jean’s in the semi-final, going on to win the provincial event.

In 2005, Rebecca Jean, along with Shelly Bradley, Robyn, and Stefanie Richard went undefeated in the provincials to advance to the nationals, finishing with a 4-7 record.

The next year, Robyn took a year off, and Shelly left to form her own team. Kathy O’Rourke joined the team at third, but the squad were unsuccessful in winning the provincials in 2006 through 2008. Robyn rejoined the team in 2009, throwing fourth stones, while Rebecca Jean called the game, throwing third stones. The team, rounded out by Shelley Muzika, Tammi Lowther, and Alternate Nancy Cameron won the provincials, and finished the round robin in a 4th place tie at the nationals, losing the tiebreaker in a stolen extra end to Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones.

Playing third for Kim Dolan, Rebecca Jean was again successful in the Provincial Women’s in 2012, beating the Meaghan Hughes team in the final, and again, in 2014, defeating Kathy O’Rourke and her team in the PEI final.

Rebecca Jean moved on to success in the Mixed and Mixed Doubles events, At the 2011 provincial mixed, her team, skipped by Robert Campbell, beat their clubmates, the Bill Hope foursome by an 8-3 score. Campbell, and his team of Rebecca Jean, along with Robbie Doherty and Jackie Reid, grabbed an early 5-1 lead with a triple in the second end, and a deuce in the fourth, and held on for the win. The team went on to became Canadian Mixed curling champions by winning the 2011 Canadian Mixed curling championship held in Morris Manitoba, by beating Manitoba 4-3 in the final.

The same Campbell team won the PEI Mixed again in 2012, and had a 5-6 record at the nationals.

Robert Campbell and Rebecca Jean also teamed up to represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles in Saint Paul Minnesota in 2011, finishing out of the playoffs with a 4-3 win-loss record

Rebecca Jean volunteered at many curling events, including the 1996 Canadian Mixed championships and the 1999 and 2011 Canadian women’s championships, all hosted on PEI ,as well as the 2004 National Special Olympics curling. She also coached a 17 and Under Junior Women’s curling team, participated in the 2005 and 2007 charity curling tournament for children, and became a certified Level 2 coach.

Tricia MacGregor

Tricia started her curling career in junior high, through the school program held in conjunction with  the Cornwall Curling Club.

She won the PEI Junior Women’s’ Curling Championship in 1989, playing second stone with skip Shelly Danks (now Bradley), third Gail MacNeil, and lead Sheri Currie.

She was a repeat winner at second the next year, with Shelly as skip, third Pamela MacCallum, and lead Vanessa MacCallum.

(L-R): Kyle Stevenson, Tammi Lowther, Doug MacGregor, Tricia MacGregor

Tricia won her first of two PEI Mixed Curling Championships in 2008, playing lead with skip Kyle Stevenson, third Tammi Lowther, and second Doug MacGregor.

Her second Mixed win was in 2010, with Donna Butler replacing Tammi Lowther at third.

In 1996, Tricia won the PEI Women’s Curling Championship at second stone, with skip Susan McInnis, third Kathy O’Rourke, and lead Leslie Allan.  She was also named to the All-Star team at the nationals.

In 2000, she won the provincial title again, playing lead for Shelly Bradley, with third Janice MacCallum, and second Leslie Allan.  She was named to the All-Star team for the lead position.

The same team won again in 2001.

In 2004 and again in 2006 Tricia won playing lead for skip Suzanne Gaudet, with third Susan McInnis, and second stone Nancy Cameron.

Tricia won the PEI Women’s Curling Championship again in 2010, playing lead for Kathy ORourke, with third Erin Carmody, and second stone Geri-Lynn Ramsay.  At the Nationals, they made it all the way to the final, losing in an extra end to Jennifer Jones to take home the silver medal.

That year her team was also named as Sport PEI’s Team of the Year.

In 2011 Tricia  was named as Alternate for Suzanne Gaudet’s team who represented PEI at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts here in Charlottetown.

She then stepped away for curling for a few years, as her daughters Chelsey and Sophie were active in sports.  During this time, she helped coach her daughter Chelsey’s curling team.

Tricia came back to competitive play in 2022 and won the Provincial Senior’s title, playing lead with skip Shelly Bradley, third Susan McInnis, and second Julie Scales. She won the Senior’s title again in 2023, also playing lead.

In December 2024, she will be going to the National Seniors in December in Moncton, NB.  She is with the same four players but is now playing second stone.

Norman MacNeill 

Norman MacNeill

Norman was an active member of the Charlottetown Curling Club for over thirty years. During his long career, he was a keenly competitive curler, participating in many club, provincial, and regional bonspiels.

In 1971, he won his first PEI Men’s Curling Championship. His skip was Kip Ready, third was Bill MacGregor, second was Dave Kassner, with Norman playing in the lead position. They went on to curl in the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship held in Quebec City.

The next year, 1972, curling with the same team, they again won the PEI Men’s Curling Championship. They played in the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship in St. John’s Newfoundland. In 1974, the team was runner up in the provincial event.

Norman won four PEI Senior Men’s Curling titles. His first was in 1977, with the Art Ballem team. Art skipped, Norman played third, Aurel Morais was second, and Augustus Gallant played lead. They won again with the same team in 1978. Norman won his next senior provincial championship in 1981, with Phil Perry replacing Gallant at lead.

Norman’s last provincial Seniors championship was in 1986,. Norman’s team included Lorn Burke at skip, Walter Lund at third, John Stewart at second, with Norman in the lead position. The team finished as runners-up at the Canadian championship, with Norman voted to the first all star team. Norman never aspired to skip his own team, but took great pride in being the best at his position.

Angela (Roberts) Smith

Angela (Roberts) Smith

In 1986, curling out of Charlottetown Curling Club, Angela, playing third stone for Lori Robinson’s team, won her first PEI Junior Women’s Championship, with Anne Dillon at second and Cathy Campbell playing lead.  They went to Rouyn-Noranda Quebec to represent PEI. They also represented PEI at the 1987 Canada Winter games in Sydney Nova Scotia, with coach Cathy Dillon. Also in 1987, the team repeated as PEI Junior Women’s Champions with Angela again at third, Anne Dillon at second, and lead Susan Dowling.  This time they went to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

In 1988 – Angela skipped her own team at the PEI Junior Women’s Championship, winning with Cathy Campbell at third, Anne Dillon playing second, and Gail MacNeil at lead.  The foursome went to the North Shore Winter Club in North Vancouver, British Columbia as PEI representatives.

1989 saw Angela win the PEI Mixed Championship, with Robert Campbell as Skip, Angela at third, Mark O’Rourke at second, and Kathy O’Rourke as lead.

This team went on to win the Canadian Mixed Championship that year in Brandon Manitoba.  Robert Campbell was named to the All Star team as Skip.

In 1991 out of the Charlottetown Curling Club, Angela Skipped her team of third Kathy O’Rourke, second Susan McCurdy, and lead Beatrice (Bea) Graham-MacDonald to victory at the PEI Women’s Championship.  With Anne Dillon as Alternate, they represented PEI at the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship nationals at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, finishing with a record of 2 wins, 9 losses.

In 1993, curling out of the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside, Angela Roberts skipped her team of Sara Gatchell at third, Janice MacCallum at second, and Nancy Reid as lead. They represented PEI at the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship held at Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba, with Leslie Allen as Alternate, completing play with a record of 5 wins, 6 losses.

 

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