ALBERTON – For the second time in their stick curling careers, Elaine Hughes and Etta Reid are the Ferguson-Logan Montague Funeral Home P.E.I. women’s stick curling champions.
The Cornwall team defeated clubmates and defending champions, Gloria Clarke and Ruth Stavert, 5-4 in the championship final at the Western Community Curling Club on Thursday afternoon.
Another Cornwall team, Sterling Stratton and Barry Craswell, won the Open Division – their third win in four years. They defeated the Montague team of Floyd Stewart and Gordon MacDonald 8-0 in the final after knocking off the defending champions, Walter Callaghan and John Vincent, from the host club, 4-3 in the semifinal. It was the defending champs’ only loss of the three-day tournament.
Stewart and MacDonald also advanced to the final with a close 2-1 win over another Western team, Winston Keough and Harvey Holm, in a six-end game that featured four blanked ends.
Provincial stick curling co-ordinator Ernie Stavert prevents the women’s championship trophy to Etta Reid, left, and Elaine Hughes. They dethroned seven-time provincial champions Gloria Clarke and Ruth Stavert 5-4 in the final. Both Cornwall teams qualify for the Maritime stick curling championships in Chester, N.S., from March 23 to 25.
Advance to Maritime ch’ships
The top four Open Division teams and top two Women’s Division teams advance to the Maritime stick curling championships, in Chester, N.S., from March 23 to 25. The winners of the Open Division also earn the right to participate in the 2018 Canadian Open stick curling championships in St. Albert, Alta.
Both Cornwall women’s teams finished double round-robin play with 5-1 (won-lost) records, but the defending champs were awarded first place and a bye to the final while Reid and Hughes got to the final on the basis of a 7-3 win over third-place women’s team of Audrey Callaghan from Western and Ann Barwise from Maple Leaf.
Only two women’s teams have their name on the championship trophy since the provincial tournament started in 2010. Reid and Hughes also won it in 2014 while Clarke and Stavert have won it every other time. In Thursday’s final, the new champions scored points in only two ends, but they made the most of their opportunities – scoring a deuce and a triple while holding the defending champs to four singles.
Craswell and Stratton finished round-robin play in Pool B in second place behind Keough and Holm, although both teams posted 4-1 records. Eddie Bernard and Roger Gavin, from Western, placed third with a 3-2 record.
In Pool A, Vincent and Callaghan were in first after round robin at 5-0, followed by Stewart and MacDonald at 4-1 and Dianne and Victor Hogan of Western at 3-2.
There were 12 teams in two pools in the Open Division and four teams played a double round-robin format in the Women’s Division.
