ALBERTON -- Veronica Smith takes a 4-0 record into Friday evening’s ‘B’ qualifier of the P.E.I. Scotties provincial women’s curling championship at the Western Community Curling Club.
Smith moved to 4-0 Friday morning scoring a single with the hammer in the last end to break a 6-6 tie with the Suzanne Birt rink, putting the nine-time Scotties champion, Birt, on the brink of elimination in the seven-team modified triple-knockout championship.
Chloé McCloskey, a former teammate of Smith’s, kept her chances alive Friday morning scoring three with hammer in the ninth end for a 7-5 win over Tammy Dewar, who finished play 0-3. McCloskey is 1-2, and faces Melissa Morrow (2-2) on Friday evening in a win-or-go-home match. Another win-or-go home match pits a pair of 1-2 rinks, Birt and Lisa Jackson, against each other.
Smith plays Sarah Fullerton (3-1) in the ‘B’ qualifier at 7 p.m. Fullerton, whose only loss has been to Smith (7-5 Wednesday night), got her third win Friday morning - a 7-3 decision over Morrow. Morrow led 3-1 going into the fifth-end break, but it was all Fullerton once play resumed. She scored three in the sixth and then, after two blank ends, stole three in the ninth for the win.
All six men’s teams playing in the P.E.I. Tankard provincial men’s curling championship are on the ice in Friday’s 2 p.m. draw, with the feature being P.E.I. junior champion Tyler Smith meeting defending Tankard champion Eddie MacKenzie in the ‘B’ qualifier. MacKenzie had a big 9-1 Thursday night win over Jamie Newson, the team that had given MacKenzie an opening-draw loss. Smith got there with a 7-1 victory over ‘A’ qualifier winner John Likely.
