Final two teams chosen for Tankard Final Eight round
(Jan. 29) The Labatt Tankard Open Playdowns wrapped up Monday night at the Crapaud Community Curling Club with the selection of the last two qualifiers for the Final Eight championship round of the provincial men's championships, February 7-11 at the Cornwall Curling Club. Five teams from the Charlottetown Curling Club, and three from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club have advanced from the triple-knockout playdowns to the round-robin Final Eight.
Qualifier seven was a see-saw battle between two Charlottetown Curling Club rinks - Jody Jackson and Robert Shaw. Shaw blanked the first two ends, but Jackson stole a deuce in the third and a single in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. Shaw then took singles in the next four ends, to pull ahead 4-3. Jackson came back with a deuce in the ninth to lead 5-4. Shaw came out the winner, scoring two points in the final end to edge Jackson 6-5. Sandy MacPhee, Robbie Younker and Derryl McCarville round out the Shaw foursome.
After losing his A and B section qualifiers by one point each, Kyle Stevenson from Charlottetown captured the last qualifier with a decisive 7-1 win over Summerside's Jeff MacCallum rink. MacCallum blanked the first end and took a single in the second, but Stevenson controlled the scoring thereafter, with singles in the next three ends, a deuce in end six, and a pair of singles in seven and eight to wrap things up early. Other members of the Stevenson rink are third Pat Lynch, second stone Kyle MacDonald, and lead Phillip McInnis. The rink has had success on the cashspiel circuit recently, winning the Mark's Work Wearhouse spiel in Charlottetown, and finishing second to Peter Gallant in the Crapaud cashspiel. Here are the Final Eight teams (skip to lead-club):
Qualifier #1: Peter Gallant, Kevin Champion, Mark O'Rourke, Robert Campbell-Charlottetown Curling Club.
Qualifier #2: John Likely, Phillip Gorveatt, Mark Butler, Mike Dillon-Charlottetown Curling Club
Qualifier #3: Rod MacDonald, Mike Gaudet, Jamie Newson, Peter MacDonald-Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club
Qualifier #4: Andrew Robinson, Tyler MacKenzie, Tyler Harris, Mark Waugh-Charlottetown Curling Club
Qualifier #5: Kevin Ellsworth, Kevin Smith, Pat Aylward, Merle Chappell-Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club
Qualifier #6: Mel Bernard, Blair Jay, Bill Hope, Earle Proude-Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club
Qualifier #7: Robert Shaw, Sandy MacPhee, Robbie Younker, Derryl McCarville- Charlottetown Curling Club
Qualifier #8: Kyle Stevenson, Pat Lynch, Kyle MacDonald, Phillip McInnis-Charlottetown Curling Club
The winning rink from the Final Eight championships in Cornwall will advance to the Tim Horton's Brier, March 3-11 in Hamilton, Ontario.
Labatt Tankard Final Eight Qualifiers four through six chosen
(Jan. 28) Only two qualifiers for the Labatt Tankard Final Eight remain to be chosen. Three very close games were played on Sunday night at the Crapaud Community Curling Club to decide the second set of three qualifiers for the PEI men's championship. Each game was decided by a single point, and two of them went to an extra end. Qualifier #4 went to former Tankard winner Andrew Robinson, who edged Charlottetown clubmate Kyle Stevenson by a 7-6 score. Stevenson stole a single in the final end to narrow the gap, but didn't get the deuce he needed to tie. Other members of the Robinson rink are Tyler MacKenzie, Tyler Harris, and Mark Waugh.
Kevin Ellsworth edged Silver Fox clubmate Jeff MacCallum 7-6 in an extra end to capture Qualifier #5. Kevin Smith, Pat Aylward, and Merle Chappell round out the Ellsworth foursome.
Mel Bernard of Summerside stole a point in his extra end, for an 8-7 victory over Charlottetown's John Desrosiers. Joining Bernard in the Final Eight are Blair Jay, Bill Hope, and Earl Proude.
The first three Qualifiers, chosen on Saturday night, are Peter Gallant, John Likely and two-time defending champion Rod MacDonald. Monday draws are at 2 pm, and at 7, when the final two qualifers will be selected. Qualifier 7 will see the winner of a 2 pm game between Ted MacFadyen and Robert Shaw of Charlottetown play the winner of a game between John Desrosiers and Jody Jackson, also from Charlottetown. The eighth and final qualifier will see the winner of a 2 pm game between Kyle Stevenson and the Maple Leaf Curling Club's Daryl MacDonald take on the winner of a game between Jeff MacCallum of the Silver Fox and Jeff Nelson of Montague.
Tankard vets grab 1st three Final Eight slots
(Jan. 28) There are no new names in the first three qualifiers for the Final Eight as the Labatt Tankard provincial men's playdowns continue at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, as Tankard veterans Peter Gallant, John Likely, and Rod MacDonald have earned the right to advance to the championship round, Feb. 7-11 at Cornwall.
Gallant, who advanced to the Eights with a 9-3 decision over Charlottetown clubmate John Desrosiers last night, after taking four points in the seventh end, is the only one of the three never to have won a Tankard in the skip position. As skip, he was runner-up last year. He won in 2001 playing third for Peter MacDonald, and was third for Robert Campbell's five wins in the odd-numbered years from 1991-1999. He also won the Tankard as second for Peter Jenkins back in 1982. Gallant is playing with Kevin Champion and Mark O'Rourke, with his skip from the 90's, Robert Campbell, in the lead position. The Desrosiers rink were runner-up at the Montague cashspiel in December.
Qualifier number 2, John Likely, joined by Phillip Gorveatt, Mark Butler, and Mike Dillon this season, edged Kyle Stevenson by a 6-5 score to take Qualifier number 2. Likely scored a triple in the eighth to pull ahead in this closely-contested game of one-point ends. Both rinks are from Charlottetown. Likely's only Tankard win as skip came in 2002. He played second for Dr. Wayne Matheson when he won in 1985. He was runner-up as third last year, and as skip in 2005 and 2004. Stevenson, who beat Likely last weekend to win the Mark's Work Wearhouse cashspiel, and lost to Gallant in the Crapaud cashspiel final earlier in the month, is a two-time Junior champ.
Two-time defending champ Rod MacDonald, whose new team this year includes two-time winner Mike Gaudet, two-time Junior champ Jamie Newson, and his brother Peter, a four-time Tankard winner, defeated Silver Fox clubmate Kevin Ellsworth by an 8-4 score to take the third qualifier. Rod was also on Peter's team for two of his Tankard wins. Ellsworth, who won the Provincial Legion's last weekend, has made the Final Eights the last two years.
Sunday draws at are 9 am, and 2 and 7 pm, with Desrosiers, Stevenson, and Ellsworth all getting second chances to qualify, in the late draw. Desrosiers will play the winner of the 9 am game between Robert Shaw of Charlottetown and Mel Bernard of the Fox. Stevenson will play the winner of this morning's contest between Charlottetown clubmates Charlie Wilkinson and Andrew Robinson, while Ellsworth meets the winner of this morning's game between Jeff Nelson of Montague and Jeff MacCallum of Summerside.