It was a sweep for both the women’s and men’s winning teams this weekend at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, as the Eddie MacKenzie rink from the Crapaud and Montague curling clubs went undefeated with a 3-0 record against the Blair Jay rink from the Silver Fox in Summerside to win the PEI Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Champion. MacKenzie also made it to the finals last year, and has now skipped six winning PEI Tankard teams, and played third for winning skip Mike Gaudet back in 2004.

PEI Tankard winners (L-R): Eddie MacKenzie (skip), Tyler Smith (3rd), Sean Ledgerwood (2nd), Ryan Lowery (lead)

MacKenzie, backed up by third Tyler Smith, second Sean Ledgerwood, and lead Ryan Lowery, beat the Blair Jay foursome 10-4, 6-3, and 8-4 to take the best of five series in three games. Playing with Jay was his son Chuck Jay at third, along with second stone Jon Philip, and lead Glenn Rogers.

Tankard Finalists (L-R): Blair Jay (skip), Chuck Jay (third), Jon Philip (2nd), Glenn Rogers (lead)

The winning MacKenzie team will now head to the Calgary “Bubble” to play in the Tim Hortons Brier, presented by AGI, from Mar. 6-14 at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

The PEI Scotties wrapped up in the same draw, with the Suzanne Birt team also going undefeated, to repeat as PEI women’s champs and head to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the same venue, from February 20-28.

The Eddie MacKenzie rink from the Crapaud and Montague curling clubs and the Suzanne Birt team from the Montague and Cornwall clubs are each just one win away from winning their respective PEI Tankard and Scotties titles at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, and a win at 4 pm would give them Sunday off.

Team Birt drawing into the house around a pair of guards

In the 11 am Saturday draw, the defending champion Birt rink followed up Friday’s 12-0 six-end win over Montague’s Darlene London foursome with a 12-2 victory in seven ends, while MacKenzie, coming home up 6-3 without last rock advantage, ran Blair Jay and his Silver Fox team out of rocks in the final end to win by a 6-3 score. MacKenzie won his Friday opener 10-4 over Jay.

MacKenzie hits and rolls to run Jay out of rocks

The winning teams will advance to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s championship in February and the Tim Hortons Brier men’s championship in March, both in Calgary.

Live end-by-end results are available at PEICurling.com/Scoreboard

Team MacKenzie is live streaming their games on the Sean Ledgerwood Facebook page, while Team Birt is live-streaming theirs on their Team Birt page.

Due to COVID restrictions, there are no spectators allowed in the facility.

Draw 2 linescores:

O’LEARY, P.E.I. — The Suzanne Birt and Eddie MacKenzie rinks won the opening games of the P.E.I. Scotties and Tankard provincial women’s and men’s curling championships on Friday.

Skip Suzanne Birt and her rink won defeated the Darlene London team 12-0 in the opening game of the best-of-five Scotties provincial women’s curling championship in O’Leary on Friday. Action resumes on Saturday morning. – Jason Simmonds

The Birt rink, out of the Montague and Cornwall clubs, stole all 12 points in a 12-0 win over Montague’s Darlene London team.

MacKenzie and his rink from the Crapaud and Montague clubs defeated the Blair Jay foursome out of the Silver Fox in Summerside by a 10-4 score.

With two women’s and two men’s teams entered in the provincial championships, each event features a best-of-five series.

The teams will be back on the ice at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary on Saturday. Draw 2 will begin at 11 a.m., with Draw 3 taking place at 4 p.m.

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