Eddie MacKenzie to represent PEI at Tim Hortons Brier

Charlottetown’s Eddie MacKenzie and his team of third Mike Gaudet, second Mike Dillon and lead Alex MacFadyen won the Labatt Tankard Tuesday February 8 at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside and will now represent their province at the Tim Hortons Brier, March 5-13 in London.

Team PEI

MacKenzie had won the A final of the 15-team triple knockout, 8-2 over Peter Gallant, then won the B final, 8-7 over John Likely. However, Likely avenged that loss with a 9-1 pounding of MacKenzie in the C final, to set up a rematch. MacKenzie would have had to lose twice, but he ended the provincial championship in the first game, winning 8-6 after trailing 5-2 after five ends. MacKenzie rallied with two in the sixth, then stole a deuce in the seventh and a single in the eighth to wrest control. MacKenzie played third for Mike Gaudet at the 1994 Labatt Brier in Red Deer in his only previous appearance, but Gaudet also skipped his province in 2004. Dillon has played lead for PEI in the Brier on three occasions: in 2003 for Robert Campbell and in 2005 and 2006 for Rod MacDonald. MacFadyen is a five-time provincial junior champion (four with PEI, one with Nova Scotia) who will be making his Brier debut. Prince Edward Island has yet to win the Brier since joining the competition in 1936.