Photo: Rod MacDonald, Kevin Champion, Dave Kassner, Phillip Gorveatt, Mike Dillon
Charlottetown, Feb. 11: Rod MacDonald drew to the four foot with his last shot in the "C" final, grazing the opposing shot stone on the way by, to score a single point in the 10th and win the final game in the PEI Labatt Tankard Provincial Men's Curling Championships by a 7-6 score over the top-seeded Peter Gallant rink. It was a very close game, with only one or two points scored per end. Gallant needed a deuce in the 9th to take the lead coming home, but his one shot stone was well guarded, and he was unable to find a way in for the pair. The MacDonald foursome, which includes third Kevin Champion, second Phillip Gorveatt, and lead Mike Dillon, went undefeated in the event, winning seven straight, including all three section finals, and eliminating the need to play the two-game championship round. It's the first time since 1972 that an identical team has won back-to-back PEI Tankards. Club manager and event organizer Dave Kassner filled in for Labatt Breweries representative David Mitchell for the presentation of the championship banner and silver tankards to the winning team. Coincidentally, Kassner was one of the members of the 1972 winning team, skipped by Kip Ready.
Photo: Peter Gallant, John Likely, Mark O'Rourke, Mark Butler
PEI Curling Association 2nd Vice-President Jerry Muzika was on hand to present the runner-up prizes to Peter Gallant, John Likely, Mark O'Rourke and Mark Butler. Both the winning and runner-up rinks, and five other rinks in the Final Eight, are from the host Charlottetown Curling Club.
The Rod MacDonald rink will now advance to the Tim Horton's Brier, March 11-19 at Regina's Brandt Centre.
Final Eight Schedule
Click on draw time or game number to display game linescores.
Section qualifier games are shown in red.
Championship round games shown in yellow.