Diane MacKay and defending champion Mel Bernard have both secured playoff berths heading into today’s final day of preliminary play at the P.E.I. masters curling championships in Cornwall.
The MacKay rink, comprised of players from Charlottetown and the host club, has sewn up first place on the women’s side with a 4-0 record, following Wednesday’s 7-1 victory over Montague’s Sherren MacKinnon. She advances to the final Friday at noon.
MacKinnon, along with defending champion Shirley Berry (Cornwall and the Silver Fox) and Cornwall’s Carol Sweetapple are tied at 2-2, while Marg Nowlan from the Fox and Ruth Stavert from the host club are both 1-3.
Today at 9 a.m., MacKay takes on Berry, Sweetapple faces MacKinnon and Stavert plays Nowlan in the final round-robin draw. Tiebreakers, if needed, go at noon and 3 p.m. The second- and third-place teams will play in Friday’s 9 a.m. draw.
In the triple-knockout men’s division, Bernard captured the first of the four qualifying spots in the Page championship round, with a lopsided 13-2 win in six ends Wednesday over Silver Fox clubmate Bob Maynard.
The second qualifier game goes Thursday at 9 a.m. with Maynard taking on another Silver Fox team skipped by Des Arsenault. Arsenault downed Clair Sweet of O’Leary 8-2 Wednesday.
The final two qualifiers will be determined in the today’s draw at noon. Paul Arsenault, of the host club, faces the loser of the morning qualifier, while Bill Hope and his combined Cornwall/Silver Fox rink face Sweet.
The men’s Page championships begin today at 3 p.m., with Bernard taking on the second qualifier winner and the third and fourth qualifiers meeting. The winner of the Page one-two game advances directly to Friday’s noon final, while the loser meets the winner of the three-four game at 9 a.m. Friday in the semifinal.
The winners and runners-up qualify for the Maritime masters championships, March 7 to 10 at the Capital Winter Club, in Fredericton.
The winning teams qualify for national championships April 8 to 14 at the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay, Ont.
