Cornwall — The Charlottetown Curling Club rink of Rod MacDonald, Kevin Champion, Mark O’Rourke and Andrew Robinson have earned a day off today, after beating their clubmates, the Robert Campbell team, 7-4 Friday night in the A section final at the Cornwall Curling Club.
The MacDonald foursome grabbed the first of four qualifying spots for the P.E.I. Tankard provincial men’s curling championship.
A steal of one in the second end and deuces in ends five and seven gave MacDonald the edge in the game.
Four Charlottetown rinks, skipped by Bill Hope, Brett Gallant, Campbell, and Mike Gaudet, are in the running for the second qualifier, in the B section of the triple knockout draw, which will be decided in the 6:30 p.m. draw today.
Hope stole a triple in the final end against Donald Clarey and his P.E.I. The Dominion Curling Club championship rink from the Montague Curling Club, to break a six-all tie and win 9-6 Friday night. Gallant, aided by a four-point fourth end, beat Charlottetown clubmate Jamie Newson 6-4 Friday night, while Gaudet stole a single in the third end, en route to a 6-5 shading of clubmate John Likely.
Campbell will face Gaudet, while Hope will take on Gallant this afternoon at 1:30, with the winners advancing to the 6:30 pm B qualifier.
The two remaining qualifying spots in the Page playoff round will be decided in the 1:30 p.m. Sunday draw.
Today at 9 a.m., Peter MacDonald will take on Charlottetown clubmate Charlie Wilkinson, Rob Young of the host Cornwall club will take on Newson, and Blair Jay from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside will face Montague’s Clarey. Likely is also in contention, and has received a bye to the 6:30 p.m. draw today, where he will play the loser of the afternoon contest between Hope and Gallant.
The four-game championship round gets underway Sunday at 6:30 p.m., with the first two qualifiers facing off in the Page 1-2 game, and the other two qualifiers playing in the 3-4 game. The winner of the 1-2 game will advance directly to the final Monday at 6:30 p.m., while the loser will face the winner of the 3-4 game in the semifinal Monday at 1:30 p.m., with the winner of that game advancing to the final.
The P.E.I. Tankard winner will advance to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 3-11 in Saskatoon.
