Schut, Ferguson repeat
Under-16, -18 titles held by same two teams
It’s two curling championships in six days for both the Mitchell Schut rink and the Lauren Ferguson foursome. The teams won the boys and girls under-16 championships on Sunday in Montague, after capturing the under-18 events the previous Monday.
It’s also the third year in a row for Cornwall-based Schut squad winning the under-16 event, while two members of the Ferguson foursome – Katie Shaw and Lexie Murray – were on last year’s winning team. Team Schut beat last year’s runner-up, the Chase MacMillan rink from Charlottetown, 8-5 in Sunday morning’s semifinal, stealing a triple in the third end and taking another three in the fifth.
The Cruz Pineau rink from the Silver Fox Curling Club in Summerside beat the fourth team in the competition, the Samuel Shaw team from the host club, 9-2 in the other semi.
Pineau, going into the final undefeated, had previously handed Schut his only loss in the event, by a 10-4 score. In the final, Pineau opened with a triple, but Schut came back with four in the second. The teams then traded triples, giving Schut a 7-6 lead at the fourth-end break.
A pair of singles gave Pineau an 8-7 lead after six. Schut scored three in the seventh and ran Pineau out of rocks in eighth for a 10-8 win. Schut’s team included Liam Kelly from his regular team at third, with Sean Peric from the host club joining the rink at second, and Dylan Moase, who normally curls on his brother Devin Schut’s team, at lead. Devin and their father, Mike Schut, shared coaching duties. Rounding out the Pineau finalist team were third Brock Rochford, second Noah Gallant, and lead Brayden Snow, with coach Shelley MacFadyen.
Girls Division
Ferguson’s semifinal game in the six-team girls division was against Gracie Gaudet and her Charlottetown team, and was tied 3-3 after five ends. Ferguson, whose squad is made up of members from Charlottetown, Cornwall and Crapaud rinks, then scored a deuce in six and a steal of four in the seventh for a 9-3 lead coming home, running Gaudet out of rocks in the last end. The other semi was a closely fought contest between Cornwall clubmates Rachel MacLean and Sydney Howatt, with the teams tied 3-3 at break. MacLean was kept to one in five, with Howatt blanking the sixth and giving up a steal of one in the seventh.
She was unable to score in the eighth, with MacLean winning 5-3, and setting up the final between the event’s two undefeated teams, Ferguson and MacLean.
In the final, MacLean had a 3-2 lead after three ends, but Ferguson picked up four points in the fourth to grab a 6-3 lead. MacLean scored singles in ends five and seven, with Ferguson scoring a deuce in the sixth, to lead 8-5 coming home, running MacLean out of rocks in the final end.
The winning Ferguson team includes Katie Shaw at third, Alexis Burris at second, and Lexie Murray at lead, with coach David Murphy. Completing the finalist MacLean rink were third Jordan DunphyCondon, second Avery Nicholson, and lead Ella Lenentine. Carl Nicholson is coach.
Awards
Following the finals and the presentations to the teams, the awards for sportsmanship, as voted on by all the players, and coaching, as voted on by the coaches, were handed out. The boy’s sportsmanship award went to Brock Rochford from Team Pineau, the girl’s going to skip Rachel MacLean, and the coaching award going to Shelley MacFadyen, coach of Team Pineau.