It’s a full house this weekend for the inaugural Marc Kennedy Classic U18 Junior Bonspiel, presented by Sarasota Homes & Realty, at the St. Albert and Jasper Place curling clubs.
The 40-rink draw features 10 competitive and eight intermediate male teams, eight competitive and five intermediate female teams, one competitive and three intermediate mixed teams and five recreational teams.
The curlers are 10 to 17 years old.
The St. Albert teams include Oake in competitive, Berg, Schnirer and Graham in intermediate and Bakos, Lozinsky and Weir in recreational.
The 91-game draw consists of eight pools of five teams apiece.
St. Albert and Jasper Place hosted 22 games apiece Friday and today’s schedule includes 22 games, including four quarter-final matches at 4 p.m., at the Tache Street facility and 18 games at Jasper Place.
A banquet and dance is also on tap tonight, plus the Hot Shots event, sponsored by Go Auto, with the top 12 curlers from predetermined shots advancing to the final.
Sunday’s semifinals start at 9 a.m. and the finals are set for noon in St. Albert.
The Kennedy Classic was established when the annual Kevin Martin Junior Bonspiel ended after several years at the Saville Centre.
Kennedy, 34, is a three-time Brier champion who will compete at worlds as the third for Kevin Koe’s rink, starting April 2 in Basel, Switzerland.
The 2008 world champion, 2010 Olympic gold medallist and St. Albert Curling Club’s wall of fame inductee in 2011 threw his first stone as a six-year-old in the club’s Little Rockers program.
Lauren Jenkyns of St. Albert rattled off five consecutive victories for a berth at the Alberta Travelers Club Championships.
Jenkyns, third Kathy Piper, second Laurie Schreiner and lead Cindy Bobowik finished 5-1 in the Northern Alberta Curling Association playdowns after defeating Michelle Hartwell of the Shamrock 9-4 in seven ends in one of the two B qualifiers Sunday in Leduc.
Jenkyns counted three with the hammer in the first end and her deuce in six made it 7-4 before stealing two in seven.
The St. Albert Wednesday league rink lost its opening game 6-4 Bobbie Sauder of Spruce Grove, who beat Hartwell 9-5 in the A qualifier, before posting wins of 5-4 with last rock in eight against Paula Knight of Jasper Place, 7-2 in five ends against Adele Kezama of the Ottewell, 11-2 in six ends against Debbie Zaychuk of Leduc and 9-3 in seven ends against Cathy Borys of Sherwood Park for a spot in the final.
The Travelers (Dominions) provincials are slated for October in the Peace Country.
The 2015 northerns marked the first time in three years Jenkyns failed to win a berth at the Travelers’ provincials while going 4-2 in the playdowns at the Shamrock.
Jenkyns skipped the St. Albert lineup of Piper, Schreiner and Diana Backer to victory at the 2013 provincials and a 3-3 record in pool play at nationals in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Jenkyns, Piper, Schreiner and Bobowik are now focusing on defending their President’s Cup in the St. Albert playoffs for a return trip to the Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions.
Last year signalled the ninth women’s club title in a row for Piper and Schreiner, the fourth for Jenkyns and the second for Bobowik.
They would go on to lose the final of the Tournament of Champions in an extra end, 9-8 to the Avonair, skipped by St. Albert’s Karynn Flory of the NAIT Ooks, after winning the 2014 city crown.
The women’s and men’s President’s Cup finals are slated for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Jenkyns is also the lead for the reigning President’s Cup and Tournament of Champions’ winning mixed rink skipped by Doug McLennan and Tuesday’s final is 7:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the St. Albert men’s rink of skip Darcy Hafso, third Les Ferguson, second Rick Dallyn and lead Grant Cook won two and lost two in the Travelers’ northern playdowns in Leduc.
