2002 PEI Labatt Tankard Men's Provincial Championships

Robert Campbell, John Likely, Labatt rep. Errol Thompson, Jeff Smith, Eric Brodersen

John Likely captured his second provincial championship of the season on Sunday afternoon, as the provincial Mixed winner has now won the Labatt Tankard provincial men's title. Likely, with his Charlottetown Curling Club team of Robert Campbell, Eric Brodersen, and Jeff Smith, defeated defending champion Peter MacDonald 6-2 in the final. Just like the semi-final, this game was played conservatively with six blank ends, and few rocks in play. Likely, with hammer, blanked the first end, and setup a deuce in end two. It took five more ends before the MacDonald rink, with Peter Gallant throwing skip stones, responded with a pair of their own. In the ninth end, Gallant attempted a thin double, but eliminated only one, and the shooter rolled out of play, giving Likely the shot for two. In end ten, Gallant drew through the house on his first shot. Likely split the house to lie two. Gallant, with last rock, attempted to use his guard about a foot in front of the house, and his shooter to take out the two opposing rocks, but was not successful, and Likely scored two to pick up the win, and the chance to compete in the Nokia Brier, March 9-17 at the Calgary Saddledome.

Likely's only other trip to the Brier was in 1985, when he played second on the Wayne Matheson rink, along with Doug Weeks at third, and Billy Dillon at lead.
Robert Campbell skipped provincial championship rinks in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999, with Peter Gallant, Mark O'Rourke, and Mark Butler, who now curl on the Peter MacDonald rink. This is the first trip to the Brier for former PEI junior champions Brodersen and Smith.

The semi-final game Saturday night between Peter MacDonald of the Charlottetown Curling Club, and Mike Gaudet of the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club was a closely fought battle with few misses, with the score tied at 1-all until the eighth end, when MacDonald, with Peter Gallant throwing skip rocks picked up a triple. He blanked the ninth, and ran Gaudet out of rocks in the final end.

Peter MacDonald, Peter Gallant, Mark O'Rourke, Mark Butler

Round robin play wrapped up Saturday morning at the PEI Labatt Tankard championships in Montague. Defending champion Peter MacDonald defeated Charlottetown clubmate Kyle Stevenson 7-5 to finish with a 6-1 record. Charlottetown's John Likely downed 2000 champion Andrew Robinson, also from the CCC, 5-2 to also finish with a 6-1 record. In previous round robin action, Likely defeated MacDonald 6-3. Because of this, John Likely got the nod to advance to the championship game. Gaudet, brother of 2002 Canadian and 2001 Canadian and World Junior Champion Suzanne Gaudet, scored a triple in the sixth end to defeat clubmate Grant Somers 7-2.
In the other game Saturday morning, Kevin Champion of Charlottetown, in his last chance for a win, defeated Doug Weeks of the Silver Fox 8-3, to finish with a 1 and 6 record, tied with Grant Somers. Weeks finished at 3-4, just behind Kyle Stevenson at 4-3. Andrew Robinson ended at 2-5.

Eight rinks, five from the Charlottetown Curling Club, and three from the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, advanced from the Open Playdowns to compete in the "Final Eight" round.