O'LEARY, P.E.I. — The Jamie Newson rink started their pursuit of a third consecutive P.E.I. provincial mixed fours curling championship in O’Leary Friday with a loss.
Newson and his Silver Fox Curling Club team of lead Miranda Ellis, second Andrew MacDougall and third Melissa Morrow then reeled off eight consecutive wins, culminating in a 7-6 victory over the Nick Blanchard rink from Crapaud in the first playoff game Monday afternoon at the Maple Leaf Curling Club to complete the three-peat.
Newson said the opening loss did not put them under any extra pressure.
“We just knew that, if we played as good as we could, we could get back in it and take it one win at a time, and that’s what we did.”
Blanchard and his team of lead Terri Wood, second Jamie Stride and third Stephanie Schnare finished with a 5-3 record with all three losses coming to Newson at the nine-team, modified triple-knockout championship.
The Newson rink, which finished play 8-1, will represent P.E.I. in the Canadian championship in Canmore, Alta., in November.
“Our goal is to work a little harder and try to make the playoffs this year,” Newson said, noting they fell one win short of making the playoffs in November.
In the Monday afternoon game, Blanchard scored a deuce in the fourth with hammer to take his only lead of the game, 4-3. Newson regained the lead with deuces in the fifth and sixth ends and held the challenger to singles in each of the last two ends.
“We kind of regrouped in the second half and played a little bit better,” Newson said.
He found the ice on a mild Monday afternoon a little trickier than during the weekend and both teams incurred some picks.
Newson complimented the Blanchard foursome.
“They played really well this weekend,” he said. “Their goal was to win the mixed this year and they’re going to be even tougher next year, I expect.”
Besides the three straight championships for the whole team, Newson and MacDougall won the event together in O’Leary in 2014. Morrow, Ellis and MacDougall also were on teams which won their respective women’s and men’s provincial club championships last year in O’Leary.
“The western clubs seem to be pretty good to us,” Newson said.
