The duo of Roddie MacLean and Paul Field, who knocked off the defending champions to win the Canadian Stick Curling Championship in their home Cornwall Curling Club back in 2013, will be getting a chance to do it again, earning a return engagement at the nationals in their home club, from March 31 to April 3rd. MacLean and Field won the 14-team Open (any combination of men or women on a team) division of the Ferguson-Logan Montague Funeral Home PEI Stick Curling Championship Thursday afternoon at the Montague Curling Rink by a score of 5-4 over clubmates Joe Gill and Doug Campbell in the final. Gill and Campbell had an early 3-0 lead in the game after stealing a second end deuce, and were up 4-3 coming come, but MacLean/Field scored a deuce in the final end to pull out the come-from-behind win.

PEI Stick Open Division winners Roddie MacLean (left) and Paul Field (right) with provincial stick curling co-ordinator Ernie Stavert

Open Division Finalists Doug Campbell (left) and Joe Gill

MacLean and Field advanced to the final with an 8-2 win over clubmates Vince Fisher and Paul Arsenault, while Gillis and Campbell edged Floyd Stewart and Gordon MacDonald from the host Montague club 4-3 in their semi-final match.

Provincial stick curling co-ordinator Ernie Stavert presents the women’s championship trophy to Elaine Hughes (left), and Etta Reid (right)

Women’s Division Finalists Myrna Craswell (left) and Myrna Sanderson

Meanwhile, the team of Etta Reid and Elaine Hughes beat their Cornwall clubmates Myrna Craswell and Myrna Sanderson 5-2 in the final to repeat as champs in the Women’s division, building up an early lead in the final with a deuce and a pair of steals to lead 4-0 after three, and kept their clubmates to singles in the rest of the game for the win.

Reid/Hughes had a bye to the championship final by virtue of finishing double round-robin play in the four-team field atop the standings with a 5-1 win-loss record, while the two Myrnas beat Cornwall clubmates Ruth Stavert and Gloria Clarke 7-3 in the semi-final to set up the final against the defending champions. Reid and Hughes will earn the right to compete in the Women’s division of the Canadian championship at their home club at the end of March.

In addition to the winners advancing to the Nationals, the top four Open division teams (MacLean/Field, Gillis/Campbell, Fisher/Arsenault, and Stewart/MacDonald), and the top two women’s division duos (Reid/Hughes and Craswell/Sanderson) from this event also advance to the Maritime Stick Curling Championships, also being held at the Cornwall Curling Club, the host club of five of these teams, from March 15-17.

File photo: MacLean (left) and Field at the 2013 Canadian Stick Curling Championships at the Cornwall Curling Club

Double round robin play is over in the four-team women’s division at the Ferguson-Logan Montague Funeral Home-sponsored PEI Stick Curling Championships at the Montague Curling Rink, with the defending champion due of Etta Reid and Elaine Hughes from the Cornwall Curling Club finishing at the top of the standings with a 5-1 win-loss record and earning a bye to Thursday’s 3:45 pm final.

They will take on the winner of the 2 pm semi-final, between two other Cornwall rinks, Myrna Craswell and Myrna Sanderson, who went 4-2, and Ruth Stavert and Gloria Clarke, with an even 3-3. Finishing out of the playoffs are Western Community’s Audrey Callaghan and Anne Barwise.

Two single round-robin draws, at 9:30 and 10:45 am, remain to be played in the two seven-team Open Division (any combination of male and/or female) pools, with the second and third place teams from each pool advancing to the quarter-final round at 12:30 pm, and the quarter-final winners taking on the first place teams in the 2 pm semis. The winners of the semis square off in the Open Division final at 3:45 pm.

With the 2 round-robin draws left, Cornwall’s Joe Gill and Doug Campbell have the morning off with a 4-2 record in the closely-fought “A” pool, while three rinks, Vince Fisher and Paul Arsenault, and John Dunsford and Alva Clarey, both from Cornwall, plus John Macdonald and Tom O’Rourke from the host club, are 3-2. John Vincent and Walter Callaghan from Western Community and Bill Glydon and Wayne MacPherson from Cornwall are also within playoff striking distance at 2-3.

Cornwall’s Roddie MacLean (left), and Western Community’s Roger Gavin in the house

It’s also a tight race for the 3 playoff spots in the “B” pool, with former Canadian champs Roddie MacLean and Paul Field from Cornwall wrapping up their round-robin play at 4-2, while four rinks sit at 3-2 and Sterling Stratton and Barry Craswell are 2-3. Only Montague’s Higginbotham rink are currently out of contention in this pool.

The tie-breaking scenarios for the playoffs  look like this: 1st by wins and losses by team, 2nd by head to head results, 3rd by points – 3 Pts for a win, 0 pts for a loss, 1 Point per end, ½ pt for a blank end, 3 pts (MAX.) difference of score.

The top four Open division teams and top two women’s division duos from this event advance to the Maritime Stick Curling Championships, at the Cornwall Curling Club, from March 15-17, while the winners of both divisions also earn the right to participate in the 2019 Canadian Open Stick Curling Championships, also at the Cornwall Curling Club, from March 31 to April 3rd, 2019