Gallant rink tops in cashspiel

SUMMERSIDE - The Brett Gallant rink won its first Atlantic Curling Tour event -
Summerside Superstore, Labatt's, Journal Pioneer cashspiel - here at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club on Sunday.
Gallant came back from a 4-2 deficit, scoring two points with the hammer in the sixth end and stealing three points in the final two ends to beat Robert Campbell's Charlottetown Curling Club rink 7-4 for the title and the winner's $2,100 share.
Gallant, third stone Adam Casey, second stone Anson Carmody and lead Alex MacFadyen lost only one game during the three-day event.
"This is our third or fourth time in this spiel," said Gallant. "It's our first win in men's competition actually.
"It's nice to get over the hump. We've been in the playoffs a lot in the men's field but we haven't been able to come through, so it's nice to win this one."
Gallant, whose rink curls out of the Charlottetown Curling Club, said the turning point in the final came in the seventh end.
"I had a couple of opportunities to score multi points in a couple of ends and just missed the shots, and they stole a few points on us," said the skip. "They had control of the game until Robert had about a double runback for about four points in the seventh. He ended up jamming it and giving us two, which kind of turned the game around there."
Gallant's junior rink was ninth in the Atlantic Curling Tour's standings heading into the weekend.
Gallant said going back to his team of two years ago, a team that had curled together for several years, had its advantages when it came to curling at The Fox. MacFadyen, Carmody and Casey all grew up curling at The Fox.
"They had the hometown edge," added Gallant. "We've been playing really well, a little up and down, but we're starting to play a lot better now."
Next up for the Canadian junior champions are the provincials.
"We're definitely going in it to win," said Gallant. "We won it the last four years."
Twenty rinks from across the region participated in the cashspiel, which featured $7,400 in cash prizes.

A look at the cash prizes:
Winner: Brett Gallant, $2,100.
Runner-up: Robert Campbell, $1,500.
Third and fourth place: Marc Armstrong and Eddie MacKenzie, each with $1,000.
Fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth: Dave Nowlan, Mel Bernard, Jamie Brennan and Rod MacDonald, each with $600.