The drive for five started Monday for the defending St. Albert mixed club champions.
In the opening draw of the eight-team double knockout President’s Cup playoffs, the Doug McLennan rink scored a swift and decisive 11-1 romp in four ends over the Dennis Lafleur foursome.
A victory Tuesday over Ferd Caron would send the 2010 Tournament of Champions winners into Saturday’s A event final at 11:30 a.m. The score was unavailable at press time.
The A-B final is Sunday at 5:30 p.m. If needed, the tiebreaker goes at 8 p.m.
“Obviously our goal is to repeat as club champions again but at the same token we know everyone else is that much more hungry to beat us,” said Colin Jenkyns, the team’s unsung second rocker. “We’ve got to remember we’re just as human as everyone else and we’ve got to bring our A game every time.”
After losing the 2006 final to Warren Sadoway, McLennan and company have raised their level of play every year with very few losses along the way.
“We want to win and be on top every year but the competition has definitely stepped up every time they play us,” said Jenkyns, a broom buster of a sweeper at front end with his sister, Lauren, a sub last year who was promoted to fulltime status this winter.
The third is Alison Howes, who also doubles as the second on Kathy Piper’s championship-winning club team.
Led by the straight-shooting McLennan, this year’s rink is stronger than ever before.
“We’ve faltered in some spots along the way but I would say we’re happy with where we are,” Jenkyns said. “Of course there is a little bit of room for improvement in terms of where we would like to be.”
The first-place curlers in Thursday’s A division carried an 11-2-1 record into the playoffs.
“We’ve been playing pretty steady. We haven’t been in as many bonspiels this year as before, just because some of us have a bit more work commitments and we don’t have as much free time as we would like sometimes but otherwise we’re doing pretty good,” Jenkyns said.
Last season they suffered only two losses: 8-2 in five ends against Dave Klatchuk in the A-B final, forcing a tiebreaker that McLennan won handily, 8-2 in four ends for the championship; and the A semifinal of the St. Albert Mixed Harvest Classic Bonspiel against Frank Lane.
“You can only be on top for so long,” Jenkyns said. “We’re the team they want to beat and that kind of pushes us to be a little bit better as well.”
Sunday’s playoff winner advances to the Tournament of Champions, starting Monday at the Crestwood. Last year at the 12-team Edmonton and area club playdowns, McLennan won two games by blowouts, followed by two close contests, en route to a rare city crown by a St. Albert mixed rink.
Previous trips to cities by McLennan ended with defeat in the 2009 semifinal qualifier and a string of semifinal exits.
“We want to get back there again and defend our title,” Jenkyns said. “It’s a pretty big deal to represent St. Albert at such a major competition.”
The road to cities started with an easy win against the Lafleur rink that was missing its skip, Dennis, from the line-up that went 8-3-2 for third place in Saturday’s A division. Stephanie Murphy filled in at skip and was supported by Tim Donnelly, Pat Lafleur and sub Mark Donnelly.
In the first end McLennan settled for one when his last shot for multiple points was too tough to make through traffic.
Murphy tied it in two with a hit and stick.
In the next end, McLennan filled the rings with rocks in difficult positions for Murphy to get at. Her last shot was basic damage control to keep the score respectable. However, McLennan used the hammer to crack a seven ender to seal the deal.
In the fourth end, and McLennan counting four, all Murphy could do was a hit and stick for one but her shooter rolled out to give up a steal of three.
“They were a great team to play right off the bat. The first couple of ends were stellar. We got fortunate in the third with a couple of lucky rolls our way but if you take that one end out they were right with us shot for shot,” said Jenkyns, 25.
HOG LINES: Caron beat Klatchuk in Monday’s quarter-finals when Klatchuk missed his last shot. Last year’s finalist was up by one coming home with the hammer.
In other playoff action, Wilf Gunderson squeaked out an extra-end win over Lane and James Coverdale needed two extra ends to put Jim Schimpf on ice.
The Manager’s Cup will also be awarded Sunday night to the tier II mixed playoff champion.
