ALBERTON -- It took a few ends for Team P.E.I. to get used to the ice during their opening game of the 57th annual Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Curling Championship Sunday night at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton.
The Mel Bernard P.E.I. rink had the bye in the opening draw of the seven-team round-robin championship Sunday afternoon.
“It’s nice to get in it and have that first game over with. Hopefully, we’re on our way,” Skip Bernard said following P.E.I.’s 8-3 win over Rick Cook and his Stephenville Branch 35 Legion team, representing Newfoundland and Labrador.
Cook led the game 3-2 at the fifth end break, but it was all P.E.I. the rest of the way. Bernard responded with a deuce in six and then stole singles in the seventh and eighth ends. His stolen deuce in nine brought the game to an early conclusion.
You’ve just got to be careful with it. It takes a while to get used to it - P.E.I. skip Mel Bernard on the tricky ice
“We kind of got things going there a bit,” Bernard said of his team’s second-half play.
“The ice is just tricky. If you’re outside a little bit it runs straight,” he discovered early.
“You’ve just got to be careful with it. It takes a while to get used to it,” he said.
Bernard and his Summerside Legion Branch 5 rink are not expecting an easy ride the rest of the way. “There are some strong teams here, we know that from before,” the P.E.I. skip said, having played against them in past national legion championships.
St. Anthony’s Legion Branch 27 in Bloomfield is the host legion for this year’s Dominion Curling Championship. The event concludes with an awards banquet at the Legion Wednesday night.
