Hope joins Nowlan as back-to-back champs in masters curling competition in Summerside

The Sandy Hope rink from the Cornwall Curling Club won the P.E.I. masters women’s curling championship Monday in Summerside. From left are skip Sandy Hope, third Shelley Ebbett, second Debbie Rhodenhizer and lead Arleen Harris. - Curl Prince Edward Island

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The Lou Nowlan- and Sandy Hope-skipped rinks repeated as Prince Edward Island masters curling champions Monday in Summerside.

Nowlan, third David MacFadyen, second Earle Proude and lead Alan Montgomery from the host Silver Fox Curling Club won for the second straight year while Hope, third Shelley Ebbett, second Debbie Rhodenhizer and lead Arleen Harris from the Cornwall Curling Club captured their fifth straight title. The masters championship is for curlers 60 and older.

Hope defeated the Shirley Berry rink, also from Cornwall, 6-4 in championship game of the three-team, modified triple-knockout competition.

Hope took a 2-1 lead with singles in the second and third ends. Berry tied it in the fourth before Hope recapture the lead with a single in the fifth and stole another in the sixth to lead 4-2 heading to the seventh. Berry counted two to tie it heading to the last end.

Hope won the B and C finals after losing 10-9 to Berry in the A final. Berry’s team included third Sherren MacKinnon, second Linda Fairhurst and lead Gloria Turner.

The Lou Nowlan-skipped squad from the host club won the P.E.I. masters men’s curling championship Monday at the Silver Fox Curling Club in Summerside. From left are Silver Fox president Mary MacKay, skip Lou Nowlan, third David MacFadyen, second Earle Proude, lead Alan Montgomery and Andrew Robinson, past president of Curl P.E.I.

Nowlan swept each of the three events in the five-team, modified triple-knockout competition, completing the sweep with a 6-5 victory in an extra end over the Bill Hope foursome from Cornwall in the C final. Hope made it to the final of all three events while Nowlan went 5-0 at the tournament.

Hope scored singles in the first two ends on Monday before Nowlan got on the board with one in third. Hope scored a deuce in the fourth but Nowlan got them back with singles in the next two ends. Hope took a 5-3 lead with a single in the seventh, but Hope tied it in the eighth to force an extra end.

Hope’s team consisted of third Peter Murdoch, second David Murphy and lead Dario Zannier.

Nowlan and Proude have been on the winning team for 10 years in a row, including four years with skip Ted MacFadyen and four more with Mel Bernard as skip. Montgomery has picked up his seventh consecutive master’s title. Nowlan also won the event as skip five times in a row, from 2003-07, for a total of 15 masters titles.
Both the winning teams and the finalists qualify for the Maritime masters at the Cornwall Curling Club from March 12-14. The winning teams, or finalists if the champs are unable to attend, also earn the right to compete in the Canadian masters, March 30-April 5, in Rothesay and Saint John, N.B.