The Bryan Cochrane rink from the Cornwall Curling Club made it a complete sweep Saturday evening at the Montague Curling Rink, winning the “C” final of the modified triple knockout draw by a 7-4 score over the Philip Gorveatt team from the Charlottetown Curling Club to take the Tankard PEI Men’s title without needing to play the Sunday championship round.

(L-R): Scott Annear (President of the Montague Curling Rink), Mark O’Rourke, Morgan Currie, Ian MacAulay, Bryan Cochrane, Sandy Matheson (President of Curl PEI)

The Eddie MacKenzie rink, who played in two of the three section finals, would be the second place “Finalist” rink in the event, and includes third Tyler MacKenzie, second stone Tyler Smith, and lead Matt Nabuurs.

Meanwhile, Suzanne Birt is just one win away from her eleventh PEI Scotties title, after coming from behind to win the women’s “C” final 9-5 over the Veronica Smith squad from the Silver Fox club in Summerside. Birt is playing out of the host Montague club this year. Because Birt won two of the three modified triple knockout sections (“A” and “C”), she can repeat as Scotties champ with a win in either the 9 am or the 2 pm championship round games on Sunday, while Smith, the “B” section winner, needs to win both games.

In the final Tankard game, Cochrane, whose rink includes PEI natives Ian MacAulay at third and Morgan Currie at second stone, along with ten-time PEI Tankard winner Mark O’Rourke at lead, opened with a deuce, with Gorveatt, whose team includes Kevin Champion, Sean Ledgerwood, and Mike Dillon, coming back with a deuce of their own. The next two ends were blanked, but a Cochrane triple in end five gave him a 5-2 lead at the fifth end break. Each team scored two singles in the second half to give Cochrand the 7-4 victory. In the afternoon “C” semi-final, Cochrane beat the Mitchell Schut Junior team, also from Cornwall 8-1 in eight ends, while Gorveatt edged clubmate Eddie MacKenzie 7-6 in an extra end.

Smith had a 5-3 lead after six ends in her game against Birt, but a deuce, a triple, and a single in the next three ends brought the score to 9-5 for Birt, and Smith ran out of rocks in the final end. Playing with Birt are third Marie Christianson, second Meaghan Hughes and lead Michelle McQuaid, with coach Mitch O’Shea, while Sabrina Smith, Emily Gray, and Whitney Jenkins, with coach Pat Aylward, round out the Smith foursome. Smith advanced directly to the “C” final by virtue of winning the “B” section, while Birt stole the final end to edge Summerside’s Melissa Morrow squad 7-6 in the “C” semi-final.

The Bryan Cochrane rink will now compete at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, Feb. 29 to March 8, 2020 at Leon’s Centre in Kingston Ontario, while the winning women’s team will advance to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Feb. 15-23, 2020 at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, 

Live end-by-end results from the combined PEI Scotties and Tankard event are available at:  PEICurling.com/scoreboard

Eleven men’s and 5 women’s rinks took part this year.

The defending champion Suzanne Birt rink, playing out of the host Montague Curling Rink, and the Bryan Cochrane team from Cornwall captured the first of three modified triple knockout qualifying games at the Scotties provincial women’s and Tankard provincial men’s championships, respectively Thursday evening.

Bryan Cochrane

The 7 pm draw featured three very close games decided by a single point, and one not-so-close one, with Cochrane and his team of Island natives Ian MacAulay and Morgan Currie, along with ten-time PEI Tankard winner Mark O’Rourke in the lead position, needing only eight ends to beat Charlottetown’s Eddie MacKenzie rink by an 8-1 score, stealing a pair of singles, a triple and another single to lead 6-0 after four ends. MacKenzie’s loan single came just before the 5th end break, but another pair of Cochrane singles in ends 7 and 8 brought the game to handshakes.

Suzanne Birt

Birt’s game against Veronica Smith and her Silver Fox rink was very evenly matched, with Birt leading 2-1 after a low-scoring first five ends. Smith pulled ahead with a sixth-end deuce, but Birt took a pair in the seventh to regain the lead. Smith tied the game with a single in the eighth, but Birt’s ninth end deuce gave her a two-point lead coming home without last rock advantage. Smith was kept to a single in ten, with Birt winning the “A” final by a 6-5 score.

In Tankard “B” section games, Charlottetown’s Philip Gorveatt edged Cornwall’s John Likely 5-4, while Cornwall’s Steve vanOuwerkerk got by the Darren Higgins rink from the Fox by a 6-5 score. 

With the modified triple-knockout format, the top teams in a section also drop down to compete in the next section. If ten-time PEI Scotties winner Birt, or Cochrane, who is the reigning World Senior Men’s champion, were to capture all three sections, they would win the event without the Sunday championship round being played, If a team were to win two sections, they would have a “double life” in the championship round and take their respective championship with a win in either game, while their opponent, the winner of the other section, would have to win both,

In the Tankard, Gorveatt now faces Cochrane, and MacKenzie takes on vanOuwerkerk in B section semi-finals at 2 pm Friday, with the winners advancing to the 7 pm “B” final. On the Scotties side, Smith plays Melissa Morrow and her Silver Fox team at 2 pm, with the winner facing Birt in the “B” final at 7 pm Friday. Morrow got by Tammy Dewar and her host club team 7-6 in an extra end on Thursday afternoon to advance to the “B” semi-final. 

Friday morning 9 am play features “C” division games. The “C” finals are Saturday at 7 pm.

The championship round games, if needed, go Sunday at 9 am and, if necessary, 2 pm.

There is no admission charge to watch this combined event, with the women’s championship sponsored by Kruger Products, Canada’s #1 tissue products manufacturer and the longest national corporate sponsor of amateur sport in Canada, along with local event sponsors O’Connor Glass, Tim Hortons, and Bogside Brewing. 50/50 draws will be held, with proceeds going toward the Montague Junior Curling Program.

The kitchen will be open for lunch (soup or chili and sandwiches) and supper (regular menu). Food and beverages are also available at the Bogside brewery, only a three-minute walk from the club, and at Tim Hortons, just a six-minute walk away.

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

The winning women’s team will advance to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Feb. 15-23, 2020 at
Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, while the men’s championship team will compete in the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, Feb. 29 to March 8, 2020 at Leon’s Centre in Kingston Ontario.