ALBERTON -- The Crapaud Curling Club rink of Alan Inman, Steven Thomson, Gordon Fall and Tony Quigley are heading back to The Dominion National Club Curling Championships and this time they will be accompanied by the Sharon Horne rink from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton.
Horne and her team of Kim Ellsworth, Wendy Fraser and Alison Griffin defeated the Lorianne Davies rink from the Cornwall Curling Club 5-3 in the Women’s final of The Dominion`s P.E.I. Club Curling Championships, held in Alberton.
Horne calmly hit and stuck with her final throw to run Davies out of stones. Sticking her shot was key, Horne acknowledged, because, had she rolled out, Davies would have had an opportunity to split on a corner guard for the tie. The win brought a roar of approval form the home-town fans.
The men`s final was even more dramatic, Up two on the Silver Fox`s Blair Jay rink with hammer heading home, Inman was facing four opposition rocks – two on the four-foot and two together at the top of the 12-foot - when he lined himself up in the hack for his final throw. He hit for the two front ones. One stayed while the other went back and cleared a stone off the four-foot. A measurement confirmed his rock was second stone, giving the defending champions an 8-7 victory. Inman fans, who paced nervously throughout the men`s game, let out a quick cheer when Quigley threw his arms up in the Nautilus pose indicating the measurement was in Crapaud`s favour.
Inman took a deuce in the first end, but Jay responded with three in the second. A single in three and a stolen deuce in the fourth put Inman out in front. After Jay tied the game in five it was Inman`s turn to respond with a triple and an 8-5 lead. Jay managed singles in the last two ends.
The women`s game only turned in Horne`s favour in the sixth when she took two and a 4-3 lead. She stole one in seven and ran Davies out of stones in eight.
“There was more pressure, but the girls shot well, they were making their shots,” said Horne, who admitted she only got nervous on her final shot. “I knew all I had to do was get rid of that yellow and game was over,” she said. Her team finished first in round robin play to advance right to the final. The domino affect carried right through the tie-breaker and playoff round. Charlottetown’s Carol Kennedy won the first tie-breaker, only to lose to Summerside’s Karen MacDonald in the second tie-breaker. MacDonald then lost to Davies in the semi-final and the pattern carried on.
Inman recalled this is th second year in a row his team won the Dominion title on a measurement.
“I didn’t know if we could get shot out of it, but I knew we could be close,” Inman said of his tough final throw. “I knew if we got two out we’d go the extra, even if we didn’t get shot. There was still hope then. As it turned out, there was enough weight on it to give that little umph at the end and that’s what did it.”
