Final Six set for Labatt Tankard Championship

Jan. 24-The last four of the six qualifiers for the Labatt Tankard Final Six were determined on Sunday at the Silver Fox, with Tom Fetterly of Summerside, and last year’s runner up, Charlottetown’s John Likely, qualifying in the afternoon draw, while defending champion Rod MacDonald and Charlottetown clubmate Eddie MacKenzie won the final two qualifers Sunday evening.  Charlottetown’s Bill Hope and Robert Campbell rinks qualified first, on Saturday. Twelve rinks, nine from Charlottetown, and three from the Silver Fox, took part in the Open Playdowns portion of the Labatt Tankard Provincial Men’s Curling Championship.

In Sunday afternoon action, Fetterly, who is originally from Nova Scotia, and curled on three Canadian Mixed championship teams, stole the final end to edge out defending champion MacDonald by an 8-7 score in one of the B section qualifiers of the triple-knockout event. Likely also stole the last end, in a 7-5 win over Eddie MacKenzie  in qualifier number four.

In the other afternoon games, Desrosiers eliminated Charlottetown clubmate Robert Shaw with an 8-6 victory, and Mel Bernard of Summerside sent Tyler MacKenzie and his Charlottetown rink home, taking four points in the eighth end in a 9-3 win.

In the final draw, MacDonald wasted no time in his final chance to qualify, scoring a deuce in the first end, four points in the third, and another four in the fifth to win 10-1 over Mel Bernard of Summerside after only five ends of play.  MacKenzie’s game went the full ten ends, with a triple in the seventh being the key factor in a 7-4 win over John Desrosiers for the last of the six qualifying spots.

On Saturday, the Bill Hope rink beat their Charlottetown clubmates and last years runners-up, the John Likely team by an 8-5 score to grab the first qualifying spot. Hope  pulled ahead with a triple in the fifth end, and a stolen single in the sixth.

Second to qualify was Robert Campbell of Charlottetown, who will be looking for his ninth Tankard.  The Campbell rink beat  the Tom Fetterly team from the Silver Fox by a 9-5 score . Fetterly led 5-2 after six ends, but Campbell took a double in the seventh, stole another deuce in eight, and recorded a triple in the final end to earn the second slot in the Final Six.

The Final Six begins on February 4th, at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, with the Tankard champion from that event advancing to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 6-14 in Halifax.

Here are the team rosters for the Final Six:

Final Six Team Rosters
Click for photo	Q#	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	5th/Coach	Club
	1	Bill Hope	Craig Mackie	Ted MacFadyen	Mike Coady	Al Ledgerwood (coach)	Ch’town
	2	Robert Campbell	Steve Burgess	Jamie  Newson	Rob Doherty		Ch’town
	3	Tom Fetterly	Terry Arsenault	Tim Hockin	Pat Aylward		Silver Fox
	4	John Likely	Mark Butler	Phillip Gorveatt	Mike Dillon		Ch’town
	5	Rod MacDonald	Kevin Champion	Andrew Robinson	Mark O’Rourke	Peter MacDonald (5th)	Ch’town
	6	Eddie MacKenzie	Mike Gaudet	Tyler Harris	Sean Clarey		Ch’town