The opening draw at the Northern Alberta Curling Association women’s playdowns is 10 a.m. Saturday at the St. Albert Curling Club.
Karynn Flory, a St. Albert skip who curls for the Avonair-based NAIT Ooks and winner of the 2015 Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions, plays Chana Martineau of the Saville Centre and the St. Albert rink of skip Karen Stephen, third Nicole Bellamy, second Kristina Hadden and lead Audra Lindsey faces-off against Lindsay Makichuk of Lloydminster.
Avonair rinks skipped by Nicky Kaufman and Jessie Kaufman are also entered in the six-team draw.
The finals are 7 p.m. (A event) Saturday, 2:30 p.m. (B event) Sunday and 10 a.m. (C event) Monday. Admission is free.
The Alberta Scotties is Jan. 20 to 24 at the North Hill Curling Club in Calgary and the winning rink advances to the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Grande Prairie in February.
Visit www.northernalbertacurling.com for draw times and results at northerns.
The fourth-place finishers at the 2015 Canadian Seniors (50-plus) Curling Championships are a step closer to a provincial repeat.
The St. Albert Curling Club rink of skip Glen Hansen, third Doug McLennan, second George Parsons and lead Don Bartlett qualified for the Jan. 28 to 31 northerns at the Ottewell after winning the B event at zones recently at the Thistle.
Provincials are Feb 17 to 21 at Coaldale and nationals are March 28 to April 2 in Digby, N.S.
The Hansen foursome lost the A final at zones in an extra end to Wade White, with Dan Holowaychuk of St. Albert as his second.
Gary Greening’s rink, with Don McKenzie of St. Albert at second, qualified out of the C event.
McKenzie and Holowaychuk are members of St. Albert Curling Club’s wall of fame in the Friendly Giant Lounge.
The first nationals for McLennan and Parsons was curling with White and Holowaychuk as the 2013 bronze medallists in Summerside P.E.I. They finished 9-3 overall, the same record by the Hansen rink at the 2015 nationals at the Thistle.
Entries are being accepted for the annual Solo Liquor Stores Mixed Bonspiel, Jan. 21-24 at the St. Albert Curling Club.
This year’s theme is High School Graduation 2016 and Alumni.
Online registration is through www.stalbertcurling.com.
For more information contact Nicole at 780-459-7007.
Last year Greg Pasichnuk of Manning skunked the Forbes rink, skipped by Emile Nickel of the Avonair, 8-0 in the A final of the 28-team draw.
Pasichnuk, third Karen Stephen, second Evan Asmussen and lead Kristina Hadden pocketed $745 as the winners.
The next major St. Albert bonspiel is the two-person stick competition Jan. 29-30.
Registration is now open for the inaugural SSAC Marc Kennedy Junior Classic Bonspiel during the Easter weekend at the St. Albert Curling Club.
The March 25 to 27 draw is capped at 32 rinks in the U18 male, female and mixed divisions.
The Kennedy Classic was designed to help fill the void when the annual Kevin Martin Junior Bonspiel at the Saville Centre ended after a long run.
Rinks can register online at www.stalbertcurling.com. The deadline is March 1.
For more information contact Nicole at 780-459-7007.
Kennedy is a two-time Brier winner, 2008 world champion, 2010 Olympic gold medallist and was inducted into the St. Albert Curling Club’s wall of fame in 2011.
The Paul Kane High School alumnus started his curling career as a six-year-old in the St. Albert Little Rockers program.
