St. Albert rinks skipped by Deb Santos, Glen Hansen and Teri Tralnberg qualified for the senior (50-plus) provincial championships during the Northern Alberta Curling Association playdowns last weekend at the Ottewell.
Santos, third Jackie Rae Greening, second Leanne Telford and lead Diana McNallie defeated Cathy Craig of Jasper Place 7-1 in six ends in the women’s B final to finish 2-1.
Hansen, third Doug McLennan, second Don Bartlett and lead George Parsons were victorious in the men’s B final. The 2015 provincial champions and fourth-place finishers at nationals defeated Dale Fellows of Spruce Grove 6-4 in seven ends for an overall 5-1 record.
In the A semifinals, Fellows downed Hansen 3-2 by counting one in eight after blanking seven with hammer.
Last month, the Hansen foursome qualified for the Boston Pizza Cup men’s provincials, Feb. 10 to 14 in Camrose, as the B winners at northerns in Leduc.
Tralnberg, third Karen Stephen, second Tana Martin and lead Theresa Parsons finished 2-2 after beating Craig 9-4 in seven ends in the women’s C final.
The two losses were against Craig, 8-7 in the A event, and Santos, 9-5 in six ends in the B event.
The winner the men’s A final was the Wade White rink of the Saville Centre, with Dan Holowaychuk of St. Albert at second. The score was 5-2 over Fellows.
Cathy King of the Saville captured the women’s A final 8-7 in an extra end over Craig, who curled with third Aimee Branting and second Maureen Forbes of St. Albert.
King, Holowaychuk and Greening are members of the St. Albert Curling Club’s wall of fame in the Friendly Giant Lounge.
Provincials are Feb. 17 to 21 at Coaldale, nationals are March 28 to April 2 in Digby, N.S. and worlds are April 16 to 23 in Karlstad, Sweden.
Three years ago, McLennan, Holowaychuk and Parsons won provincials and were national bronze medallists curling with White, while Santos and Greening were provincial champions and national silver medallists with Santos as skip. Diana Backer of St. Albert was the second for Santos, and at northerns her Sherwood Park rink slide past Santos 7-4 in the A event and in the C event lost 6-5 to Tralnberg.
Local teams were the top money winners at the Drayden Insurance Stick Bonspiel last weekend at the St. Albert Curling Club.
Doug Germsheid and Julian Lapicki tied for top spot with Tom Grinnell and Joe Laplante, followed by Bill Froelich and Ed Wiersma in the 24-team, two-person stake bonspiel.
The rapidly growing St. Albert stick league consists of 36 teams and 72 curlers, plus spares.
Registrations are being accepted for the annual St. Albert Centre Ladies Bonspiel, Feb. 26 to 28 at the St. Albert Curling Club.
The entry fee is $280 per rink.
This year’s theme is the Wild Wild West.
Visit www.stalbertcurling.com to register online.
For more information, contact Nicole at 780-459-7007.
Last year Jennifer Scott defeated Diana Backer 7-5 in the all-Crestwood rink final of the 20-rink draw.
