O’LEARY
It will be Sydney Howatt and her Cornwall rink facing the Lauren Ferguson rink from Charlottetown, Cornwall and Crapaud curling clubs, and defending champion Lauren Lenentine from Cornwall facing Charlottetown’s Annika Kelly in Friday’s C qualifier semifinal of the P.E.I. Pepsi junior women’s curling championship.
The modified triple knockout men’s and women’s championships, which will decide who will represent P.E.I. at the New Holland Canadian junior championships in Shawinigan, Que., from Jan 21 to 28, are being played at Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary.
From a starting field of six women’s teams, only Howatt, Ferguson, Lenentine and Kelly remain. Kelly (3-2) eliminated the Emily Sanderson (0-3) rink from Cornwall by an 8-5 score Friday morning, following up a deuce in eight with single steals in the ninth and 10th ends. Howatt (1-2), likewise eliminated Cornwall clubmate, Rachel MacLean (1-3) by a 5-2 score, counting three in the sixth and stealing a point in the ninth. Also in the morning draw, Lenentine upped her record to 5-0 with a 6-4 win over Ferguson (2-2). Single steals in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends gave the defending champ a 6-2 lead.
There was one men’s game on Friday morning's draw, the C qualifier semifinal between Mitchell Schut from Cornwall and Chase MacMillan (1-3) from Charlottetown. Schut, who now has a record of 3-2, had steals of three in the first end and two in the fourth to go up 7-1 en route to a 7-2 win.
Schut, who made it to the A and B finals, will play undefeated Alex MacFadyen (4-0) in the C final tonight at 6:30 p.m. A win by Schut would force a playoff round with MacFadyen, while a MacFadyen victory would give the Silver Fox team the provincial title.
The women’s C final also goes Friday at 6:30 p.m.