Walsh and Hamming rinks win inaugural
 The Dominion Provincial Club Championship

L-R: Heather MacRae, Lindsay Moore, Ruth Walsh, Vanessa Hamming, Leigh Armstrong of The Dominion

L-R: Ray Thompson, Walter Bensen, Louis Walsh. Missing: Doug Waugh

Mar. 15-The Vanessa Hamming rink from the host Crapaud Community Curling Club, and the Louis Walsh foursome from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside are PEI's first The Dominion club champions, and will now advance to the 2009 national The Dominion Curling Club championship, November 24-29  at the St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto Ontario.

The Hamming rink beat Summerside's Barb Currie team 7-5 in the final, getting off to a flying start by taking four points in the opening end. Other members of the winning Hamming foursome are Ruth Walsh, Lindsay Moore, and Heather MacRae, while Faith LeClair, Paula Baglole, and Flo Birch round out the runner-up Currie foursome.

In the men's division final, Cornwall's Brock Spence team drew first blood, taking a single with hammer in the first. Walsh took control in the second end, taking a deuce, and stealing singles in ends three through six to end the game early with a 6-1 final score. Doug Waugh, Walter Benson, and Ray Thompson play on the winning Louis Walsh team, while runner-up Brock Spence's teammates are Sean Ledgerwood, Chris Montigny, and Jay Carr.

The Hamming rink advanced directly to Sunday’s final by finishing atop the round robin standings with a 4-1 win-loss record, their only loss being to Currie on Saturday afternoon, when Currie grabbed four points in the first end and three in the third to win 9-5. Currie, and Rushell MacDonald of the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary both had 3-2 win-loss records. MacDonald received second place honours by virtue of her 7-6 extra-end win over the Silver Fox skip on Friday evening. In that game, Currie had the hammer in the extra, but MacDonald stole a single for the victory.

MacDonald and Currie then faced off in the semi-final, with the Summerside rink taking two points in an extra end to win 8-6 and advance to the gold medal game. Other members of the third-place Rushell MacDonald foursome are Suzanne Getson, Audrey Thomson, and Leah Harris.

Paula Creamer of Charlottetown and Gail Greene of Montague both finished play with 2-3 records, while Cornwall’s Lorianne Davies rink ended at 1-4.

There was a very tight race in the men’s round-robin, with four teams finishing with 4-2 win-loss records.   As no team beat all the others in round-robin play, draw to the button results had to be used to determine the first and second place teams. The Spence rink had the button in their pocket with results of only 67.5 inches, by far the best in the tournament, and come out in first place, advancing directly to Sunday’s final. Second place honours went to the Walsh foursome, with a distance of 123.5 inches.

As PEI Curling Association rules dictate that a team cannot be eliminated from a championship round solely by a draw to the button, a tiebreaker was required to determine the third place team. The two teams in the tiebreaker were skipped by Daryl MacDonald of the Maple Leaf, and Donald Clarey of Montague, with MacDonald scoring three points in an extra end to win 9-6. Clarey took the early lead in the game, scoring a single in the first and a triple in the second, but MacDonald fought back and pulled out the win.

In the semi-final, Walsh lead 3-1 after two, but MacDonald tied it up in the third, and led 5-4 after seven ends. Walsh took a deuce in the eighth end for a narrow 6-5 victory. Rounding out the third-place MacDonald team are Glen Betts, Lowell Morrison and Joey Ellsworth.

The Gordon Fall foursome from the host Crapaud club ended play at 3-3, while Leslie Hardy of the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton was 2-4, and the Robert Jenkins squad from Charlottetown finished at 0-6.

Club champions from all seven PEI curling clubs took part in this new event, which is designed to give regular club curlers across the country an opportunity to compete in provincial and national level competitions. Club curlers are those who enjoy the sport recreationally, supporting club leagues on a regular basis each curling season. These teams now have an opportunity to demonstrate their skill against other curling clubs in their province and country. Any profit generated from provincial or national Dominion Curling Club Championship events will be directed to charities including the Canadian Paraplegic Association, as well as developmental curling initiatives in communities across Canada.

During the opening ceremonies of the PEI event, it was announced that the  2010 national championships will be held on the Island, at the Charlottetown and Cornwall clubs.

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Click for pictures from opening ceremonies and opening women's draw