Senior nationals
Dan Holowaychuk of St. Albert is packing his bags for worlds with the Team Canada rink skipped by Wade White after returning home from his third Canada Senior (50-plus) Curling Championships in six years.The second for White, with Barry Chwedoruk at third and lead George White, won last year’s Canadians for a berth at worlds and last week the foursome finished tied for fifth at 6-4 in the championship pool at nationals in Stratford, Ont.
Worlds start April 21 in Oestersund, Sweden.
In pool A, the Alberta reps tied for first with Al Hackner of Northern Ontario and Ted Butler of Quebec at 5-1 for a spot in the eight-team championship pool.
The winners of five in a row, including an 8-5 decision against Northern Ontario, suffered four consecutive losses starting with the 7-3 setback to Quebec.
The winless streak featured losses of 8-1 to Terry Odishaw of New Brunswick and 6-3 to Bryan Cochrane of Ontario.
In the final, Ontario knocked off New Brunswick 5-2.
Holowaychuk, 55, was a senior national bronze medallist in 2013 curling with White, Doug McLennan of St. Albert and George Parsons.
Chwedoruk and George White were competing at their second senior nationals.
Holowaychuk, a St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee in 2014 and alternate for the legendary Ferbey Four, is a six-time President’s Cup men’s champion in the St. Albert playoffs and the winning skip at the 1989 Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions.
City championships
The 55th annual Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions starts Sunday at the Granite for rinks sipped by Dale Briske, Lauren Jenkyns and Jason Tuininga as the President’s Cup playoff winners at the St. Albert Curling Club.The double-knockout format consists of the 2018 club champions in the metro Edmonton region in the 12-team men’s, women’s and mixed divisions.
Briske and Jenkyns are the defending men’s and women’s champions. Jenkyns was also the 2014 city champion, 2015 finalist and 2016 semifinalist at cities.
At 9 a.m. Briske plays the Saville Centre and Jenkyns is up against the Granite.
Tuininga’s mixed team, with Jenkyns at third, will face the Shamrock or Avonair at 6 p.m.
The semifinals for the two A qualifiers and two B qualifiers are 7 p.m. Thursday and the finals are 7 p.m. Friday.
Visit www.edmontoncurling.ca/city-play-downs for draw times and results.
The President’s Cup for Briske was his second in a row and fourth overall while Jenkyns pulled off her sixth.
The winners of the Manager’s Cups in the St. Albert playoffs were Sweeney in men’s, Kaminsky in women’s and Kozlowski in mixed.
Travelers northerns
The recent Travelers Club Championships in Camrose ended with losses for Dale Briske and Lauren Jenkyns of the St. Albert Curling Club.Briske, third Neil McKay, second Rick Dallyn and lead Grant Cook finished 3-2 after the 8-7 setback to Allan Balascak of the Thistle.
Balascak scored a deuce in eight for the win.
Balascak also doubled Briske 8-4 with a four-spot in seven in the second game for the St. Albert squad.
Jenkyns, third Christina Monk, second Andrea Forbes and lead Ashley Sykes also posted a 3-2 record after falling 7-1 in six ends to Tiffany Steuber of Spruce Grove in the B finals.
Jenkyns, the 2013 Alberta Travelers champion, gave up steals of two in five and one in six.
Jenkyns and Briske qualified for northerns as last year’s President’s Cup playoff winners in St. Albert.
The event winners at northerns qualified for provincials in October.
