Alberton -
For a fifth decade in his curling career, Rod MacDonald is heading to a Canadian Brier. "It's got to be some sort of record," MacDonald said after he and teammates Kevin Champion, Mark O'Rourke and Andrew Robinson outlasted the Robert Campbell rink 5-4 Sunday night at the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton to win the final of the Labatt Tankard, the P.E.I. Provincial Men's Curling championship.
He played in his first Brier in 1978 as mate on his brother Peter's team. He's been there in the '80s and '90s and three times between 2005 and 2009.
The MacDonald team, which also includes brother Peter, who serves as coach and fifth, will represent P.E.I. in the Tim Hortons Brier next month in Halifax.
Members of the runner-up rink are Campbell, Steven Burgess, Jamie Newson and Robbie Doherty.
Winning all five of his round-robin games in the Tankard's Final Six this year, MacDonald advanced right to the championship final while Campbell took the long road, winning a tie-breaker over John Likely 8-3 to make it to the semi-final and then beating Eddie MacKenzie 9-6 in the semi-final Sunday afternoon. Five of the teams, including all the teams in the playoffs and tiebreaker were from Charlottetown Curling Club.
Fans and players were distracted significantly during the first five ends of Sunday's final as they paid as much or more attention to the television for the Scotties final. The MacDonalds are brothers of P.E.I. skip Kathy O'Rourke and second stone Mark O'Rourke is her husband.
Though happy with his championship victory, skip MacDonald said he would have gladly traded it with his sister Kathy.
Sunday's men's provincial final came down to one Campbell stone over to the side of the 12-foot. Coach Peter was expecting brother Rod to throw the draw but the skip surprised just about everyone by going with the hit for the win, sticking his shot on the 12-foot.
"Draw is usually my strong suit," skip MacDonald agreed. " I thought about it but said, 'I haven't tried an out-turn hit all game' so I was due for one. And I was just a little scared. Robert's first (draw) picked on him. I just had a little doubt."
Champion and O'Rourke made four successive single peels in the 10th as Campbell tried to set up the end for a steal, but it wasn't until MacDonald's first throw that he was able to execute a double peel and expose most of the house. Campbell's final rock hit but rolled too far to his right, out into the open. MacDonald then scored the win with the hammer.
MacDonald feels his team is ready for Halifax. "We've been playing well. It's a good team.
"We came out pretty close to the best," assessed runner-up skip Campbell. "Roddy's got a big two in the seventh and we tried to get some action going in the eighth end but they played well and forced us to a draw of one." That tied the game at four and MacDonald was content to blank the ninth to keep the hammer going home.
