The seventh President’s Cup in eight years for Doug McLennan’s mixed rink was extra special.
“It’s absolutely a great feeling to win it again,” said Colin Jenkyns, second rocker for McLennan, after Tuesday’s 6-3 final against Warren Sadoway. “There is a great field of curlers at the St. Albert Curling Club that play here year after year so we’re definitely privileged to represent the club once more in the city playdowns. We’re looking forward to having a good showing there and hopefully we can make another run at the title.”
Last year at the Tournament of Champions the St. Albert reps finished 4-2 and both losses were against Dean Darwent of the Avonair – the A qualifier when McLennan’s last shot in eight to win the game on a double takeout misfired and the final, 7-4 in seven ends.
“We played well all tournament last year and just came up that much short in the final so we certainly want to put together another great showing and hopefully we can top it off with a title this year,” Jenkyns said.
The April 7 to 17 competition at the Saville Community Sports Centre features the mixed champions from 12 Edmonton and area clubs.
Four years ago McLennan skipped the first St. Albert mixed rink to victory at cities.
In 2012 McLennan was 1-2 and after bowing out in the B bracket with a semifinal berth at stake.
“You’re certainly playing an elite group of curlers representing their clubs so you’ve always got to be on the top of your game. If you slip up there is going to be a team there to take advantage of it so we definitely have to keep building on what we did here in the playdowns and hopefully we can come away with another title at cities,” said Jenkyns of the 2010 champions, with Alison Howes at third and lead Lauren Jenkyns, the Team Alberta skip at the 2013 Dominion Curling Club Canadian Championships.
The A-B playoff showdown against Sadoway was a rematch of the St. Albert bonspiel final in January, with McLennan winning 6-2 in seven ends.
The teams traded deuces in the second and third ends and in four McLennan counted two to lead 4-2.
Sadoway blanked the fifth and in the sixth salvaged a point with last shot.
In a lengthy seventh end McLennan and Sadoway were drawn into deep discussions with teammates over the skip’s shot selections. McLennan’s last delivery was a successful draw for two.
In eight McLennan ran Sadoway out of rocks.
“It was pretty even-keeled all the way through with a couple of deuces each in the second and third ends so the first half of the game was really just a couple of shots here or there. We then got fortunate when we were able to hold them to one in six and we were able to come back with our deuce in the seventh end to pull it off,” said Jenkyns, who filled in at skip in last year’s final against Bryan Connell with McLennan throwing third rocks for the Alberta champion Wade White, third-place finisher at the senior 50-plus nationals.
The Sadoway rink of Sandy Sadoway and Tim and Leanne Fell from the Friday night league pulled off a great playoff run after losing their opener to Klatchuk before rattling off victories against Hermann, Asmussen, Caron and Klatchuk in the B final for a date with McLennan, who lost to Sadoway in the 2006 final.
McLennan breezed through the playdowns with wins against Caron, Asmussen and Klatchuk in the A final, en route to the third-straight President’s Cup for the Thursday night team, arguably the most prolific St. Albert mixed line-up ever assembled.
“We work great as a team. We each have our respective roles and we’ve been playing together for several years now so we’ve certainly grown accustomed to what each of our roles are and we’re able to contribute where it’s needed. We just have this, I guess, internal chemistry and we’re able to gel and feed off each other and put forth our great game,” said Jenkyns, who skips a promising men’s team in the Tuesday night league.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the winning team picture.
