Hope, Berry win senior titles

Both rinks headed to Canadian championships

The Bill Hope rink from the Cornwall Curling Club is the new P.E.I. senior men’s (aged 50-plus) curling champions.

Hope, third stone Craig Mackie, second stone Peter Murdoch and lead David Murphy defeated the defendingchampion Philip Gorveatt rink 7-4 at the Crapaud Community Curling Club on Monday morning.

The Hope foursome had won two sections of the modified triple-knockout draw, giving them a “double life” in the two-game championship draw.

However, with Hope winning the first one, the sudden-death game was not required.

Rounding out the Gorveatt rink are third stone Kevin Champion, second stone Mike Dillon and lead Mark Victor.

The Hope team, which also advanced to the finals in the masters (aged 60-plus) championships this year, had a 5-1 (won-lost) record in this event, losing only to Gorveatt.

Women

Sunday, the Shirley Berryskipped rink from the Cornwall Curling Club went undefeated at 5-0, sweeping all three modified triple-knockout sections in the five-team senior women’s event.

Berry’s undefeated record made a championship round unnecessary.

The Berry team, which also includes third stone Janice Murdoch, second stone Arleen Harris and lead Kim Nicholson, rallied to win the A-section final 8-7 in an extra end over the Sharon Horne rink from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton.

Berry took a triple in the eighth end, and stole a single point in the extra end for the win.

They then defeated Cornwall clubmate Debbie Rhodenhizer and her rink 7-5 in the B final, before capturing their third section with a 10-8 victory over defending-champion Shelly Ebbett and her Charlottetown team, stealing a deuce in the final end for the win.

The Horne rink was the runner-up.

The Berry and Hope teams now advance to the 2018 Everest Canadian senior men’s and women’s curling championships in Stratford, Ont., from March 24 to 29.