CRAPAUD, P.E.I. — It was an impressive showing by the Lou Nowlan rink.
Nowlan and his Silver Fox team from Summerside won five games in a row to sweep all three sections of the five-team P.E.I. masters men’s curling championship at the Crapaud Community Curling Club recently. Nowlan edged out clubmate Blair Jay 7-6 in the C qualifier to negate the need for a championship round. Masters curling features participants aged 60 and over.
Nowlan, whose team on the final day of play included third stone David MacFadyen, second stone Earle Proude and lead Alan Montgomery, played with just Proude and Montgomery on Day 2 while alternate Rod MacDonald played third stone on opening day.
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Nowlan and Proude have now been on the winning men’s team at this event for nine years in a row, including four years with skip Ted MacFadyen and four with Mel Bernard as skip. Montgomery picked up his sixth consecutive masters men’s title. Nowlan also won the event in the skip position five times in a row from 2003 to 2007 for a grand total of 14 masters’ titles.
In the C final, Jay led 4-2 at the fourth-end break, but a four-point fifth end gave Nowlan the lead. Jay tied the game with singles in the sixth and seventh ends, but Nowlan pulled out the win with a single point in the final eighth end.
Jay’s teammates are third stone Stuart Graves, second stone Dale Cannon and lead Spike Martin.
Maritime championships
Both the Nowlan and Jay rinks have earned the right to compete in the Maritime masters championships in Rothesay, N.B., from March 15 to 17. The Nowlan rink has also earned the right to compete in the 2019 College Clean Restoration Canadian masters curling championships in Saskatoon, Sask., from April 1 to 7. If the Nowlan team is unable to attend, the Jay squad will have the opportunity to attend the national championship.
