MacDonald rink not lacking experience Heading into Canadian men's curling championship

SUMMERSIDE - The Rod MacDonald rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club
certainly knows what to expect at the 2010 Tim Hortons Brier.
MacDonald, third stone Kevin Champion, second stone Mark O'Rourke and lead
Andrew Robinson have a combined 28 years of experience at the Canadian men's
curling championship.
"We did a little switch this year," said MacDonald, who will be appearing in
his fifth decade at the Brier. "Mark was playing lead last year and Andrew
was playing second.
"Mark's been a career second stone, so I think he's more comfortable playing
second. Andrew will now have played three positions at the Brier - last year
he played second, he skipped in 2000 and now he's playing lead. He's very
versatile and I like our lineup."
O'Rourke will be making his 11th appearance at a Brier. This year will mark
seven trips for MacDonald and Champion, and Robinson is participating for
the third time.
"I like our lineup," said MacDonald, who went 6-0 (won-lost) in the
provincials and also won the Charlottetown Super League. "We've had a great
year. . . and were very consistent."

Round robin
Ten provincial champions, along with Northern Ontario and the Northwest
Territories/Yukon, will begin round-robin play at the Halifax Metro Centre
today. The playoffs begin Friday and the championship game is set for
Sunday, March 14, at 8 p.m.
"There are some newcomers to the field," said MacDonald. "Kevin Koe is out
of Alberta and (Kevin) Martin did not play (in the Alberta provincials)
because he was going to the Olympics.
"He (Koe) played (Randy) Ferbey in the final and beat him. Kevin, as
everyone knows, has been very good on the (Grand) Slam Tour.
"It's going to be nice to play some different teams. B.C. has a new team
(Jeff Richard), I think Quebec has a new team (Serge Reid), Nova Scotia has
a new team (Ian Fitzner-LeBlanc), even though we've played them two or three
times during the year."
MacDonald admitted he doesn't consider this year's field as strong as last
year. But, he quickly added, "Last year's was probably as strong of a field
as I've ever seen at a Brier, with six Canadian champions and one Olympic
champion."

Inspiration
MacDonald is hoping to draw on the success of his sister and Mark O'Rourke's
wife, Kathy O'Rourke, at the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She skipped
P.E.I. to the championship game of the Canadian women's curling
championship, before losing a heart breaker to Team Canada's Jennifer Jones
in the final.
"They did amazingly well," said MacDonald. "Their demeanour on the ice was
awesome and that's what a lot of people liked about the team, and the way
Kathy handled the younger kids.
"Even though we don't have anybody that young on our team, we are mostly a
more experienced team for sure."

jpsports@journalpioneer.com


Schedule

P.E.I.'s round-robin schedule
at the Tim Hortons Brier:
Today
7:30 p.m. - vs. Saskatchewan (Darrell McKee).
Sunday
10:30 a.m. - vs. Manitoba (Jeff Stoughton).
3 p.m. - vs. Alberta (Kevin Koe).
Monday
3 p.m. - vs. Northwest Territories/Yukon (Jamie Koe).
7:30 p.m. - vs. Newfoundland and Labrador (Brad Gushue).
Tuesday
10:30 a.m. - vs. Ontario (Glenn Howard).
3 p.m. - vs. Quebec (Serge Reid).
Wednesday
10:30 a.m. - vs. Nova Scotia (Ian Fitzner-LeBlanc).
7:30 p.m. - P.E.I. vs. Northern Ontario (Brad Jacobs).
Thursday
3 p.m. - vs. New Brunswick (James Grattan).
7:30 p.m. - vs. British Columbia (Jeff Richard).
Television: The Sports Network (TSN) will carry each draw live.